PREVIEW: European Affective Polarization | S01E19 | Political Reality
🌍 Primary studies discussed in the episode:
1. 📄 Wagner, Markus (2024), “Affective polarization in Europe,” European Political Science Review
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/affective-polarization-in-europe/36BDBF804365FE0B350E610E9E7C714E [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/affective-polarization-in-europe/36BDBF804365FE0B350E610E9E7C714E]
2. 📄 Boxell et al. (2024), “Cross-country trends in affective polarization,” The Review of Economics and Statistics
https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/106/2/557/109262/Cross-Country-Trends-in-Affective-Polarization [https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/106/2/557/109262/Cross-Country-Trends-in-Affective-Polarization]
3. 📚 Reiljan, Andres (2025), “Affective polarization in Europe,” ch. 8 of the Handbook of Affective Polarization
https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap-oa/book/9781035310609/chapter8.xml [https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap-oa/book/9781035310609/chapter8.xml]
📘 Handbook of Affective Polarization
https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781035310609/9781035310609.xml [https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781035310609/9781035310609.xml]
4. 📄 Iyengar et al. (2012), “Affect, not ideology: A social identity perspective on polarization,” Public Opinion Quarterly
https://pcl.sites.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj22066/files/media/file/iyengar-poq-affect-not-ideology.pdf [https://pcl.sites.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj22066/files/media/file/iyengar-poq-affect-not-ideology.pdf]
5. 📄 Iyengar et al. (2019), “The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States,” Annual Review of Political Science
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034 [https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034]
6. 📄 Druckman & Levy (2022), “Affective polarization in the American public,” ch. 18 of the Handbook on Politics and Public Opinion
https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781800379619/book-part-9781800379619-30.xml [https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781800379619/book-part-9781800379619-30.xml]
7. 🎙️ And, of course, see our previous episode on this :).
https://politicalrealitypodcast.com/videos/is-polarization-actually-a-problem-s01e05-teaser/ [https://politicalrealitypodcast.com/videos/is-polarization-actually-a-problem-s01e05-teaser/]
Finally, you may be surprised to see that Turkey is included as a European country. We were also surprised! While only 3% of Turkey’s landmass (or 15% of its population) is in Europe (the rest is considered to be in Asia), it is relatively standard practice in global measures to categorize it along with other European countries.
For example, see also the latest Economist Intelligence Unit 2025 democracy index report:
https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2025/ [https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2025/]
Or their Wikipedia page if you don’t feel like downloading it!:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index]
Turkey is also a NATO member, member of the Council of Europe, and an EU candidate (though negotiations are currently frozen), among other European memberships. Most importantly, it’s also part of Eurovision ;).
All of that said, this is an excellent example of how the “simple” act of classification, never mind quantification, is an enduring challenge in political science! You could certainly imagine a valid case for analyzing, say, aggregate European data both with and without Turkey included (as well as Russia, and some others).
🧠 For a primer/refresher on affective polarization in general, see:🇹🇷 A quick note on Turkey and “Europe”
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