Comparative Politics

B05 - Rethinking Democracy: From Postcolonial Theories to Electoral Realities

Date: Jun 3 | Time: 03:30pm to 05:00pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Jessica Burch (Simon Fraser University)

Exposing Inter-Party Animosity in a Consociational Democracy: Thorn in the Side or Fatal Blow?: Lucas Kins (Université libre de Bruxelles), Caroline Close (Université libre de Bruxelles)
Abstract: Consociationalism designates political systems that are designed to manage societal divisions, by ensuring power-sharing and consensus-building among the different social, ethnic, or religious groups of a country. As a result, it is generally described as a “distinctively non-populist conception of democracy” (Bogaards, 2019; p. 342). Nevertheless, recent research has highlighted the many limits of such a system (Caluwaerts & Reuchamps, 2020), especially in a context of growing polarization. In parallel, social media have become a key tool of political communication among elites, thanks to the direct link with voters they provide (Huber, 2022), and their intensive use by a multitude of political actors, including political parties (Farrer, 2022; Wouters et al., 2022). Most of the existing research has focused on the use of digital campaign tools by challenger –often so-called anti-establishment— parties or candidates, and its consequences on the polarization of the electorate, especially in majority systems (