Antipartisanship in Multiparty Systems: Divergent Political Identities and Impacts on Democratic Representation in Brazil

Antiparty sentiments—defined as the aversion to specific political parties—have gained prominence in various political systems. This phenomenon leads voters to cast their ballots against candidates affiliated with parties they reject, rather than in favor of candidates or even policies they support, thereby posing challenges to democratic representation. This study aims to investigate antipartisanship in multiparty systems, challenging dominant conceptions in the Social Sciences, which often view it as a one-dimensional opposition to a single party (Cf. Campbell et al., 1960). We argue that antipartisanship is, in fact, a complex set of distinct political, ideological, and social identities that shape electoral behavior, and only when combined have electoral impacts. Contrary to the classical literature on affective partisanship, we contend that antipartisanship does not constitute a singular political identity.

Brazil provides a compelling case, with political competition structured around a partisan pole, represented by the center-left Workers’ Party (PT), and an antipartisan pole composed of critics of this party. This study adopts a multimethod integrative approach (Cf. Seawright, 2016) to explore the composition and dynamics of antipartisanship in Brazil. The quantitative analysis involves cluster analysis to identify different typologies of antipartisans based on data from Brazilian post-election surveys. In the qualitative phase, focus groups are used to examine narratives, rhetorical mediations, and the construction of the political landscape within the various antipartisan groups. Among Brazilian antipartisans, we found significant identity variation, with individuals from different clusters or groups not recognizing themselves as part of the larger group of antipartisans. This study aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of this emerging political phenomenon, exploring its meaning and implications for democratic representation.