Loved, Hated, or Ignored? Party Identification and Partisanship in Slovakia

Oľga Gyárfášová; Martin Slosiarik

doi:10.34135/sjps.250101

Authors

Oľga Gyárfášová Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University (Slovakia)
Martin Slosiarik FOCUS Agency (Slovakia)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.250101

Keywords:

Political parties, political identities, Positive and negative party identification, Type of partisans

Abstract

When studying social and political dynamics in modern representative democracies the relationship between citizens and political parties cannot be neglected because it is essential for understanding social processes. The concept of party identification largely follows the classic work of research on voting behavior - The American Voter (Campbell et al., 1960). It is understood as exogenous predispositions which affect attitudes and political behaviour It is mostly seen as a positive trait and affirmation. However, in post-Communist countries (and not only there) we see strong negative party identification, operationalized as a party that an individual would never vote for or perceives as distant and evoking negative feelings. Challenged by the question of the dynamics of, and relationship between, positive and negative partisanship this paper contributes to the research of partisan identification, positive as well as negative. Based on empirical data from several surveys the study shows the dynamics of party identification in Slovakia. There are partisans who hold either positive or negative party identification, or both, or none. The representation of different types depends heavily on the pattern of electoral competition. Though the study concentrates on single country case – Slovakia - it may identify more general trends of political partisanship in the region and beyond in times of intensely polarized politics.

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