Political issues of identity politics and denationalization have become pivotal in shaping the success of right-wing populist parties and—at the opposing end—green parties and other parties with a cosmopolitan program. Furthermore, these issue domains have been increasingly politicized by political actors of Western democracies in the last decades. This, in turn, is likely to translate into increasingly polarized opinions and a resulting political mobilization among citizens along these issue domains. This project will investigate the extent to which opinion polarization on identity politics and denationalization issues have increased since the 1980s in a selection of Western consolidated democracies. The analysis of social survey data covering more than three decades will provide essential insights into the origin, evolution and composition of one of the current most salient political divides in Western consolidated democracies. The topic of this project has therefore not only a high scientific, but also a high societal and political relevance.

Image Credit: Adam Thomas | CC BY 2.0