Work

Attack politics from Albania to Zimbabwe: A large-scale comparative study on the drivers of negative campaigning

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: There is little comparative research on what causes candidates in elections across the world to ‘go negative’ on their rivals – mainly because of the scarcity of large-scale datasets. In this article, we present new evidence covering over 80 recent national elections across the world (2016–2018), in which more than 400 candidates competed. For the first time in a large-scale comparative setting, we show that, ceteris paribus, negativity is more likely for challengers, extreme candidates, and right-wing candidates. Women are not more (or less) likely to go negative on their rivals than their male counterparts, but we find that higher numbers of female MPs in the country reduces negativity overall. Furthermore, women tend to go less negative in proportional systems and more negative in majoritarian systems. Finally, negativity is especially low for candidates on the left in countries with high female representation, and higher for candidates on the right in countries with proportional representation (PR).

Source: International Political Science Review

DOI: 10.1177/0192512120946410

Authors: Chiara Valli, Alessandro Nai

Institutions: University of Bern, University of Amsterdam

Language: English

Topic: Electoral Systems and Political Participation

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Gender equality, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,000