A partial micro-foundation for the ‘two-worlds’ theory of morality policymaking: Evidence from Germany

Abstract

The two-worlds framework is currently the most important account of morality policymaking in Europe. For this theory of elite behaviour to be valid, a number of implicit assumptions about political belief systems at the mass level must hold. This contribution spells out these assumptions and tests them within a structural equation modelling framework, using original survey data from Germany, a country that constitutes a crucial case for the two-worlds theory. The results showed that the implicit individual-level preconditions of the two-worlds framework were fulfilled. Political secularism and partisanship were strongly associated. Political secularism also had strong effects on morality policy preferences regarding the preferred regulation of abortion, embryo and stem cell research, and gene therapies, even when controlling for a host of background variables. However, the size of the effects did not vary across politicised and non-politicised issues. This casts some doubt over the ability of partisan actors to unilaterally control the morality policy agenda.

ReconcilingIntra‐PartyandIntra‐CoalitionDissent in Morality Politics: Parliamentary Debates on Marriage Equality in the German Bundestag

“…Contrary to what the framework based on Engeli et al (2012) led to predict, however, the analysis shows that internal disagreements are central to manage for parties in the secular and the religious world. This is in line with the observation that free votes and internal divisions appear in both worlds (Arzheimer, 2020; Hildebrandt, 2016; Hurka et al, 2018; Plumb, 2015). More specifically, the analysis provided a more profound insight into how parties position themselves argumentatively to deal with internal dissent in morality politics in the religious world.…”

The links between basic human values and political secularism: Evidence from Germany

“…In West European countries, (political) secularism has strong effects on policy preferences across the whole ART domain and related fields, on citizens' views on abortion and on support for marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples (Arzheimer, 2020a(Arzheimer, , 2020bDi Marco et al, 2020Hichy et al, 2020Hichy et al, , 2015Magelssen et al, 2019). Similarly, Layman et al demonstrate that in the United States, secularism is strongly linked to positive views on same-sex relationships and homosexuals, to 'support for science and scientific approaches to societal issues' and to other attitudes that can be labelled as liberal in the American context (Layman et al 2021, p. 91; see also Beard et al 2013, p. 760).…”

“…In West European countries, (political) secularism has strong effects on policy preferences across the whole ART domain and related fields, on citizens’ views on abortion and on support for marriage and adoption rights for same‐sex couples (Arzheimer, 2020a, 2020b; Di Marco et al., 2020, 2018; Hichy et al., 2020, 2015; Magelssen et al., 2019). Similarly, Layman et al.…”