New governance models increasingly employ self‐regulation tools like pledges and nudges to achieve regulatory compliance. These approaches premise that voluntary compliance emerges from intrinsic motivation to cooperate rather than coercive measures. Central to their success is trust—both in government institutions and among citizens. However, rising societal polarization raises critical questions about the continued effectiveness of self‐regulatory approaches. This paper examines how ideological extremity, a key dimension of polarization, affects cooperation in self‐regulatory contexts. We theorize that ideological extremity erodes trust in government and interpersonal trust, thereby diminishing cooperative behavior and threatening self‐regulation's viability. Furthermore, we propose that extremity transforms authority dynamics, with ideological orientation and partisan alignment increasingly determining cooperation levels. Using data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and World Value Survey (WVS), we find robust evidence that ideological extremity undermines cooperation through distinct mechanisms across the ideological spectrum. While our data has limitations, our findings have important implications for policymakers implementing self‐regulation tools in polarized societies. The results suggest the need to carefully consider how ideological dynamics shape the effectiveness of voluntary compliance mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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两极分化和自愿服从：意识形态极端对自我调节有效性的影响


新的治理模型越来越多地采用承诺和助推等自我监管工具来实现监管合规性。这些方法的前提是，自愿遵守源于合作的内在动机，而不是强制性措施。他们成功的核心是信任 - 无论是在政府机构还是在公民之间。然而，日益严重的社会两极分化引发了关于自我监管方法的持续有效性的关键问题。本文研究了意识形态极端性（两极分化的一个关键维度）如何影响自我调节环境中的合作。我们从理论上认为，意识形态的极端性会侵蚀对政府的信任和人际信任，从而减少合作行为并威胁到自我调节的可行性。此外，我们提出极端性改变了权威动态，意识形态取向和党派联盟越来越多地决定了合作水平。使用来自欧洲社会调查 （ESS） 和世界价值调查 （WVS） 的数据，我们发现强有力的证据表明，意识形态极端通过意识形态光谱的不同机制破坏合作。虽然我们的数据存在局限性，但我们的研究结果对政策制定者在两极分化社会中实施自我监管工具具有重要意义。结果表明，需要仔细考虑意识形态动态如何影响自愿合规机制的有效性。