This is the author's version of the work. Please cite as:

Arzheimer, Kai. "A partial micro-foundation for the 'two-worlds' theory of morality policymaking: Evidence from Germany." Research & Politics 7.2 (2020). doi:10.1177/2053168020917823
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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.

@Article{arzheimer-2020c,
author = {Kai Arzheimer},
title = {A partial micro-foundation for the 'two-worlds' theory of morality
policymaking: Evidence from Germany},
journal = {Research \& Politics},
year = 2020,
volume = 7,
number = 2,
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.},
dateadded = {28-03-2020},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2053168020917823},
data = {https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/2MIWPN},
html = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2053168020917823},
keywords = {bioethik},
doi = {10.1177/2053168020917823}
}