A Network Approach to Association Between Levels of Polarization

Increasing polarization has been a concerning characteristic of politics in many countries around the world. Political polarization can be conceptualized at the level of political parties, masses, and elites. However, the comparison of polarization at these levels remains limited. In this paper we combine data from a public opinion survey, legislative records, and online social networks and generate comparable networks of political polarization at these different levels. Our analyses show that the structure of polarization at these different levels are quite similar. Next, we examine the differences across different network levels and provide some explanations for the variations between networks. The context of our study is Turkey, one of the most politically polarized countries at all levels of polarization.