
The rise of the far right is increasingly raising the question of whether partisanship can have negative consequences for democracy. While issues such as partisan bias and affective polarization have been extensively researched, little is known about the relationship between identification with anti-system parties and diffuse system support. I address this gap by introducing a novel indicator and utilising the GESIS panel dataset, which tracks the rise of a new party, Alternative for Germany (AfD) from 2013, when the party was founded, to 2017, when the AfD, now transformed into a right-wing populist and anti-system party, entered the federal parliament for the first time. Employing a panel fixed effects design, I demonstrate that identification with Alternative for Germany reduces trust in the Federal Constitutional Court by a considerable margin. These findings are robust across various alternative specifications, suggesting that the effects of anti-system party identification should not be dismissed.
right-wing extremist party, Vertrauen, politische Entwicklung, anti-system parties; party identification; radical right parties; GESIS Panel - Standard Edition (ZA5665); Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften ALLBUS 2018 (ZA5270), rechtsextreme Partei, 330, ddc:320, membership, Partei, Federal Republic of Germany, 320, system criticism, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, political development, 320 Political science, Mitgliedschaft, 320 Politik, party, confidence, Systemkritik
right-wing extremist party, Vertrauen, politische Entwicklung, anti-system parties; party identification; radical right parties; GESIS Panel - Standard Edition (ZA5665); Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften ALLBUS 2018 (ZA5270), rechtsextreme Partei, 330, ddc:320, membership, Partei, Federal Republic of Germany, 320, system criticism, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, political development, 320 Political science, Mitgliedschaft, 320 Politik, party, confidence, Systemkritik
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| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
