![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
The presence of radical right-wing populist (RRP) parties presents a challenge to liberal democracies, which are inclined to allow the representation of parties that reject their principles of diversity and inclusiveness. Addressing this concern, we use the World Values Survey and other data sources to demonstrate that the representation of RRP parties in parliament, in fact, has no discernible effect on individual levels of intolerance. The anti-outgroup messages of RRP parties are mitigated by the tolerance-boosting effect of the information diversity present in the multiparty systems that allow for their representation. In addition, even those predisposed to be intolerant of outgroups are unaffected by the representation of such parties, as the attitudes of these individuals are least likely to be shaped by new information. Bans on political parties that espouse intolerance, often considered or implemented by modern democracies, are unlikely to achieve their desired effect.
Notes
These standards fall under the rhetoric of the “strict scrutiny” test first referred to in United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144 (1938) and applied in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944).
Available at <www.freedomhouse.org>.
Available at <www.worldvaluessurvey.org>.
Items per105, per201, per503, per602, per604, per607 and per705.
Items per104, per305, per601, per603, per605, per606 and per608.
This variable is measured as
where v
j
is the proportion of votes for party j in a given election.
Available at <www.worldbank.org>.
The questions are: (1) For each of the following aspects, indicate how important it is in your life: religion; (2) Apart from weddings, funerals and christenings, about how often do you attend religious services these days? (3) Independently of whether you go to church or not, would you say you are: a religious person, not a religious person, a convinced atheist? (4) How important is God in your life?
This figure was created with code provided as an accompaniment to work by Brambor et al. (2006), available at: <http://homepages.nyu.edu/~mrg217/interaction.html>.