The left-right political auto-identification has been used widely in the socio-political research for interpreting and organizing political attitudes and opinions. In this paper we analyse whether the meaning of the left-right orientation is the same in Eastern and Western Europe after the transformation in 1989. Using data from two big European survey programmes – European Social Survey & European Values Study – we show that while citizens’ support for economic liberalism is positively related to their left-right political auto-identification, citizens’ support for cultural liberalism is negatively related to it. Importantly, however, we also found evidence for the regional diversity hypothesis, which shows this pattern was more prominent among the citizens of Western European countries than among the citizens of Eastern European countries. Presented results confirm the specificity of Eastern Europe when it comes to relations between political auto-identification and other beliefs linked to it traditionally and imply that the concept of left-right political auto-identification cannot be transferred mechanically between Eastern and Western Europe.
‘The left is right’: Left and right political orientation across Eastern and Western Europe
