Abstract
Through the lens of well-known models of party identification, the expressive and instrumental model, this study seeks to improve our understanding of the dynamics of party identification in the Peshawar valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique is used for this multivariate analysis to grasp which factors are more persuasive to influence party identification in the region. The data for this analysis is generated by a survey of the public's opinion from a representative sample using a structured questionnaire comprising questions based on the fundamental premises of the two competing models of party identification. The analysis shows that both expressive and instrumental factors, to varying degrees, contribute to party identification. It has been discovered that instrumental factors have a greater direct influence on party identification as compared to expressive factors. The instrumental factors including the role of leadership (ROOL), political campaign and propaganda (PCPR), and institutional factors (INFA), directly influence the party identification of the individuals. However, the political party factor (POPF) of the instrumental model has an indirect effect on party identification. On the other hand, the expressive model's only factor that has a direct influence on party identification is social identification with the group (SOIG). The familial socialization factors (FASF) and peer group (PEGR) factors of the expressive model influence party identification indirectly by contributing to instrumental factors. The study concludes that ‘the role of leadership, ‘the institutional factors’,‘the political campaign and propaganda’, and ‘social identification with the group’ are the factors that are imperative to party identification in this region. This case appears to demonstrate that neither an expressive nor an instrumental model,on its own, can ascertain the factors that ultimately decide a person's party identification.To comprehend the phenomenon of party identification in remote cases such as the Peshawar Valley of KP, Pakistan, a hybrid model that integrates factors from both the expressive and instrumental models is indispensable.
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