Comparative Perspectives on Parliamentary Discourse and Polarization

Abstract

The previous chapter traced links between the two spheres of justification and polarization of parliamentary debate, and asked how identifiable links between these spheres can be generalized across cases. From this point of departure, the task of this chapter is to set our observations about these links in a comparative perspective. More specifically, the question addressed here is to what degree the political and institutional context conditions of parliamentary debate create a moderating or a reinforcing environment for the emergence of discursive contention and political polarization. In this sense, this chapter investigates how the institutional and party political environment of a debate contributes to the intensity of a given type of discourse, and to the strength of the related patterns of political polarization. As outlined in the presentation of the theoretical chapter, the subsequent analysis looks at three such context factors: the institutional setting (as established by the four national legislatures), the thematic type of debate, and the party political factors. Considering these three factors, the subsequent chapter investigates three hypotheses about explanatory factors for comparative variation between cases, as discussed in the theoretical chapter: