A REFLECTION ON HYPERPARTISANSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY

In thinking about our partisan divisions, we first need to recognize that partisan conflict is a healthy and necessary aspect of democracy. In many ways, it is the lifeblood. 

As political scientist E.E. Schattschneider famously observed in his 1942 book, Party Government, “Modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties.” It is unthinkable, because without competing parties, voters lack meaningful choices. Partisan conflict is necessary for democracy, because one-party politics is not democracy. It’s totalitarianism.

But the good things that parties accomplish come with side effects. To unite people, parties must also divide, by offering a common enemy to everyone on their side. As psychologists have long known, in-group loyalty and out-group hostility are two sides of the same coin.  

Here’s the paradox: We can’t have democracy without partisanship. But when partisanship overwhelms everything, it becomes increasingly difficult for democracy to function and for society to make progress. 

As another political scientist, Lilliana Mason convincingly argues, “The more sorted we become, the more emotionally we react to normal political events.” And when emotions are heightened, everything becomes a threat to progress. Politics becomes more about anger. And, here’s the warning from Mason that should give you goose pimples: “The angrier the electorate, the less capable they are of finding common ground on policies, or even of treating our opponents like human beings."

In deeply polarized democracies, the other side comes to be seen as an enemy needing to be vanquished. 

We are entering a political era where the perceived stakes are higher and higher (“the fate of our society lies in the balance”) that they justify increasingly extreme means. When it is a war of good versus evil, “norms” and “fair play” seem like quaint anachronisms.

In extreme polarization, people feel distant from and suspicious of the “other” camp. They feel loyal to, and trusting of, their own camp - without examining their biases or the factual basis of their information.

Hyper partisanship does not allow for a broader perspective focused on society's collective interests and welfare. 

But qualitatively, there is something more. It is not just how much we are divided, but more fundamentally how we are divided. The core problem is that the fundamental disagreement in our politics is now about us versus them. It is no longer about what society's overriding interest should be but rather about blind support for the party.

Polarization of this sort can damage society's long-term interests, in part because the resulting dysfunction and gridlock make it difficult for citizens to pressure their governments to adequately address developmental challenges. 

For that reason, the incumbent’s followers tolerate mismanagement, nepotism and increasingly authoritarian behaviours to stay in power. In contrast, the opponents are more and more willing to resort to undemocratic means to remove them from power. This damages democracy. To the opposition, change is necessary to refocus governance on development. To the incumbent, development does not matter. The system is okay as long as their party is in power.

Extreme partisanship is generally regarded as detrimental to the functioning of democratic governments, in part because of its typical basis in motivated reasoning and misperceptions of political reality. 

It encourages citizens to degenerate into bootlicking, sycophancy, and eventually docility. This is when they find it difficult to hold the government accountable by questioning the outcomes of public policies and programmes.

In addition, it encourages government kleptocracy, in which those who govern steal from those they govern. It stymies progress as well as harms governance outcomes. While we claim party supremacy, our destinies are being mortgaged by a greedy and callous thieving clique.

This is because as a member of the party, you don't find anything wrong with the government's maladministration and the fact that your resources are being privatized. It could therefore fuel democratic backsliding, communal conflict, and general underdevelopment.

It can also pose a serious threat to democracy because it undermines the public’s trust in electoral institutions. It also weakens its commitment to democratic values and the rule of law.

We need political parties. But the rabid partisanship of party members could destroy democracy.