How Do Protests Intensify Affective Polarization? : An Experimental Evidence from South Korea

April 30, 2026Peace Studies

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Key Points

This research explores how protests can intensify emotional division among voters through politicized memories.
Conducted a survey experiment with 1,500 respondents focused on recalling the 2016-17 Candlelight Protests.
Randomly exposed respondents to either positive or negative framings of the protests.
Analyzed effects of party identity on emotional recall using instrumental variables.
Positive framing led Democratic Party supporters to recall protests more, while negative framing resonated with opposition supporters.
Higher levels of affective polarization were observed among respondents recalling the protests.
Findings suggest that peaceful protests can exacerbate emotional divisions due to partisan reconstruction of memories.

Experimental evidence shows protests can enhance affective polarization in voters, indicating implications for democracy.

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Jeong et al. (2026) studied this question.

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