- Does affective polarization make citizens less committed to democratic principles?
- Or does it mainly weaken their willingness to hold politicians accountable when they violate democratic norms?
- And can reducing partisan animosity strengthen electoral accountability?
These were the key questions addressed during a research seminar with Assoc. Prof. Selim Erdem Aytaç from Koç University, Turkey, held at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, on 10 June 2026.
The seminar, titled “Affective Polarization and Punishing Democratic Violators: Evidence from Turkey”, was organized by the Center for Multidisciplinary Area Studies (CenMAS) and the ERA-AREAS project. It was designed for the academic community and focused on current debates around democratic backsliding and political behaviour.
Drawing on a nationally representative survey experiment in Turkey, Assoc. Prof. Aytaç showed that reducing affective polarization did not significantly change support for democratic principles, but it did increase citizens’ willingness to hold norm-violating candidates accountable. The findings suggest that partisan animosity contributes to democratic erosion primarily by weakening electoral accountability.
Assoc. Prof. Aytaç is an associate professor in the Department of International Relations at Koç University. His research focuses on political behaviour, electoral accountability, and political participation. He received his PhD in political science from Yale University in 2014, and his work has been published in leading journals including American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, and British Journal of Political Science. He is also the co-author, with Susan Stokes, of Why Bother? Rethinking Participation in Elections and Protests, published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. From 2023 to 2028, he serves as Principal Investigator of the ERC project DEPOLARIZE.
The event formed part of CenMAS and ERA-AREAS activities aimed at connecting the centre’s research agenda with the wider academic community. Through research seminars, the project supports scholarly discussion, academic networking, and opportunities for future collaboration across disciplines and regional specializations.
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