Affective Polarization across European Parliaments

TL;DR

This study uses natural language processing to analyze parliamentary speeches across six European countries, revealing consistent affective polarization characterized by negativity and hostility towards opposing groups, with reciprocity playing a key role.

Contribution

It introduces a fully automated method to detect affective polarization in parliamentary discourse across multiple countries, highlighting the role of reciprocity.

Findings

Affective polarization exists across all six European parliaments.

Negativity correlates with activity level but not with member activity.

Reciprocity contributes to affective polarization among parliamentarians.

Abstract

Affective polarization, characterized by increased negativity and hostility towards opposing groups, has become a prominent feature of political discourse worldwide. Our study examines the presence of this type of polarization in a selection of European parliaments in a fully automated manner. Utilizing a comprehensive corpus of parliamentary speeches from the parliaments of six European countries, we employ natural language processing techniques to estimate parliamentarian sentiment. By comparing the levels of negativity conveyed in references to individuals from opposing groups versus one's own, we discover patterns of affectively polarized interactions. The findings demonstrate the existence of consistent affective polarization across all six European parliaments. Although activity correlates with negativity, there is no observed difference in affective polarization between less active and more active members of parliament. Finally, we show that reciprocity is a contributing mechanism in affective polarization between parliamentarians across all six parliaments.