partisanship

Partisanship is loyalty to a political party and its platform, shaping attitudes and actions in politics. It can refer to a tendency to identify with a party and to align with its positions, sometimes independent of personal policy preferences. It is distinct from ideology, which is a coherent set of beliefs about politics, and from partisanship as a general partisan stance.

In contemporary democracies, partisanship often appears as consistent voting along party lines, opposition to the other party's proposals, and engagement with party-affiliated media. It can coexist with ideological differences; strong parties attract supporters across the ideological spectrum, but partisanship tends to rely on group identity and loyalty.

Causes include social identity and group identification; party organizations and primaries that reward ideological purity; media ecosystems and social networks that create echo chambers; cognitive biases like motivated reasoning; and electoral incentives that reward party discipline.

Effects of partisanship can include improved coordination, turnout, and accountability within a party, but it can also hinder compromise, rational debate, and efficient governance. It often increases polarization, reduces trust across groups, and can contribute to political gridlock and the spread of misinformation or oversimplified narratives.

Measurement and study employ surveys of attachment, voting records, and roll-call analyses, along with scales assessing partisan affect. Partisanship is treated as a multidimensional construct in some analyses, and disentangling it from ideology or issue preferences remains a methodological challenge.

Responses and reforms include institutional design such as nonpartisan redistricting, ranked-choice voting, and open primaries; deliberative forums and cross-party coalitions; and media literacy initiatives. The effectiveness and consequences of reforms vary by context and political culture.