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
    [BibTeX] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [HTML] [DATA]
    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}
    }

A Partial Micro-Foundation for the “Two-Worlds” Theory of Morality Policy Making

I have removed the pre-print because an open access version of the paper was published in May 2020. Click here for the final version of A Partial Micro-Foundation (published in Research & Politics).