Affective Polarization and Negative Identities in Peru

• In Event: The Contours of Political Polarization in 21st Century Latin America

Abstract

Polarization is becoming a widely studied topic. While, traditionally, it has been understood in an ideological manner, in recent years the attention has shift on its affective component. In fact, scholars observed that in different countries the degree of which individuals dislike compatriots with an opposing political identity is on the rise. These studies have focused mainly on institutionalized party systems such as the U.S. and some Western European countries (see Iyengar et al., 2019; Hartevelt 2019). However, we lack an assessing of the degree of affective polarization in fluid party systems. Fluid party systems are characterized by no institutionalized party alternatives and, consequently, low levels of positive partisanship. Additionally, in some of these party systems individuals tend to attach negatively to political options, developing negative party identification independently from their positive counterparts.
In this article we assess the relationship between levels of affective polarization at the individual level and negative identities, based on an original survey data conducted during the last presidential election in Peru (2021). We focus on the negative partisanships (anti-fujimorismo, and anti-aprismo) in order to explore how affective polarization activates (or not) their saliency during electoral campaigns. Under low-institutionalized party systems –like the Peruvian one-, negative partisanships work as shortcuts for mobilizing voters. However, only some of these negative identifications are coalesced by hatred and repulsion, while others are mainly based on ideological tenants.

Authors

• Lisa Zanotti, Diego Portales University

• Carlos Melendez, Universidad Diego Portales