Party System Development in Times of Globalization: A Spatial Perspective.

Is cultural political polarization caused by a convergence of policy positions on an economic dimension that is in turn effected by globalization? Or is globalization influencing economic and cultural polarization separately, if not independently? This article argues that an influence of globalization on both economic and cultural polarization are supported by empirical evidence. I show that (a) economic globalization exerts a depolarizing influence on an economic dimension and a polarizing influence on a cultural dimension; (b) neither economic nor cultural polarization influence polarization on the other dimension; (c) voters in Germany who express more fear of globalization are more likely to vote for the far-right AfD; and (d) fear of globalization is not related to voting for parties that compete on an economic left–right scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]