When the Radical Right Leads: How Politics Shapes Gendered Violence

The rise of radical-right parties has generated extensive research on their effects on democratic institutions, polarization, and social cohesion. Yet far less is known about how these political transformations shape interpersonal violence -- particularly violence against women. This paper bridges political behavior and gender-based violence research by examining how radical-right leadership, through its rhetoric and style, reshapes social norms and lowers the informal constraints on aggression. Building on theories of elite cueing and norm diffusion, we argue that political leaders do not merely reflect societal attitudes, they actively construct the moral boundaries of acceptable behavior. When governing elites employ hostile, demeaning, or exclusionary rhetoric, they signal that aggression and dominance are legitimate modes of interaction. This process of “normative contagion” diffuses downward through partisan networks, normalizing aggression among supporters and eroding norms of civility well beyond the political arena. Israel provides a critical case for testing these dynamics. In recent years, senior figures in Netanyahu’s radical-right coalition have adopted an aggressively polarizing communication style that targets political opponents, civil society actors, and the judiciary. We combine two empirical strategies to assess its consequences on gendered violence. First, an observational analysis of municipality-level police data (2016–2024) shows that intimate partner violence (IPV) declines in areas strongly supportive of Likud when the party governs outside a radical-right coalition, but increases sharply when it leads a radical-right coalition. This reversal suggests that elite aggression at the top translates into weakened normative restraint below. Second, a pre-registered survey experiment demonstrates the causal mechanism: exposure to authentic and agressive statements from senior politicians increases sexist attitudes and reduces support for gender equality among right-leaning men, while producing the opposite effect among opponents. Together, these findings show that radical-right elites can shape not only political discourse but private conduct. By modeling aggression and legitimizing hostility, they extend the reach of political incivility into intimate life. When leaders speak violently, citizens learn that violence speaks.