YOUTH CONSERVATIVE SHIFT AND POLITICAL POLARIZATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AUSTRIA AND SOUTH KOREA
- 주제(키워드) conservative shift , youth political behavior , political polarization , Austria , South Korea , gender polarization , democratic resilience
- 발행기관 서강대학교 국제대학원
- 지도교수 Kim Hannah June
- 발행년도 2026
- 학위수여년월 2026. 8
- 학위명 석사
- 학과 및 전공 국제대학원 International Relations
- 세부분야 해당없음
- 실제URI http://www.dcollection.net/handler/sogang/000000083002
- UCI I804:11029-000000083002
- 본문언어 영어
- 저작권 서강대학교 논문은 저작권에 의해 보호받습니다.
초록(요약문)
Across advanced democracies, young voters are increasingly aligning with conservative and far-right political actors. In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party （FPÖ） and mainstream conservative Austrian People's Party （ÖVP） captured nearly half of voters under 35 in the 2024 national council elections. In South Korea, a gender divide has emerged, with young men shifting toward conservative and anti-feminist political actors, while young women move in the opposite direction. This study addresses the following research question: what explains the conservative shift among young voters in Austria and South Korea, and how do the drivers of this shift differ between the two countries? It argues that the conservative shift is driven by economic grievances and directed through identity-based political narratives. Economic insecurity is weakening trust in established institutions and parties, which gives conservative actors a receptive environment to give political direction through identity-based narratives. In Austria, the primary drivers are anti-establishment sentiment and a representation gap; in South Korea, it is gender-based resentment and anti-feminist discourse. Rather than producing merely a conservative shift, this interaction generates political polarization as an observable outcome. This study draws on descriptive secondary survey data, including electoral results, national youth surveys and World Values Survey （WVS） Wave 7 statistics as well as qualitative data from twenty semi-structured interviews with young Austrians and South Koreans and one expert interview with an Austrian democracy researcher. The study contributes to the comparative literature on youth political behavior by offering a cross-regional comparison and by demonstrating that the youth conservative shift carries implications for democratic resilience and political disengagement among younger generations.
more목차
Abstract 1
List of Tables and Figures 2
Chapter 1: Introduction 3
Chapter 2: Literature Review 7
2.1 Defining Key Terms 7
2.2 Global Conservative Shift: Europe and Asia 8
2.3 Youth Political Behavior and Social Media 9
2.4 Economic Grievances as Drivers of Conservative Shift 10
2.5 Identity-based Political Narratives 12
2.6 Democratic Implications 13
2.7 Gap in the Literature and Research Contribution 13
Chapter 3: Theory 14
Chapter 4: Research Design and Methodology 18
Chapter 5: Case Studies 23
Austria 23
1. Political Context and Key Actors 23
2. Youth Political Behavior and Voting Patterns 25
3. Economic Grievances 26
4. Identity-based Political Narratives 27
5. Political Mobilization 29
South Korea 30
1. Political Context and Party System 30
2. Youth Political Behavior and Voting Patterns 31
3. Economic Grievances 33
4. Identity-based Political Narratives 34
5. Political Mobilization 36
Chapter 6: Comparative Results 37
6.1. WVS data 37
6.2 Interviews 45
6.3 Elite Interview and Policy Recommendations 58
Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusion 60
7.1 Discussion 60
7.2 Conclusion 64
7.3 Limitations 65
Chapter 8: Appendices. 67
Appendix A. Case Study Additions 67
Appendix B. WVS Questions and Figures 69
Appendix C. Interview Questions 79
Appendix D. Interviewee Information 82
Chapter 9: References 86
