Editing Political polarization (section)

==Consequences==
The implications of political polarization "are not entirely clear and may include some benefits as well as detrimental consequences."<ref name="epstein-07">{{cite journal|last=Epstein|first=Diana|author2=John D. Graham|year=2007|title=Polarized Politics and Policy Consequences|url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2007/RAND_OP197.pdf|journal=RAND Corporation}}</ref> Polarization can be benign, natural, and democratizing, or it can be pernicious, having long term malignant effects on society and congesting essential democratic functions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Varieties of Democracy Report 2019|url=https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/99/de/99dedd73-f8bc-484c-8b91-44ba601b6e6b/v-dem_democracy_report_2019.pdf|access-date=2019-10-26|archive-date=2019-06-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605230333/https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/99/de/99dedd73-f8bc-484c-8b91-44ba601b6e6b/v-dem_democracy_report_2019.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Where voters see the parties as less divergent, they are less likely to be satisfied with how their democracy works.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ridge|first=Hannah M|date=2021-01-20|title=Just like the others: Party differences, perception, and satisfaction with democracy|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354068820985193|journal=Party Politics|volume=28|issue=3|pages=419–430|doi=10.1177/1354068820985193|s2cid=234162430|issn=1354-0688|url-access=subscription}}</ref> While its exact effects are disputed, it clearly alters the political process and the political composition of the general public.<ref name="fiorina-08" /><ref name="abramowitz-08" /><ref name="nivola-06">{{cite book|title=Red and blue nation? Volume One: characteristics and causes of America's polarized politics|publisher=Brookings Institution|year=2006|isbn=978-0815760832|editor=Pietro S. Nivola & David W. Brady|location=Washington, DC}}</ref><ref name="nivola-08">{{cite book|title=Red and blue nation? Volume Two: Consequences and Correction of America's Polarized Politics|publisher=Brookings Institution|year=2008|isbn=978-0815760801|editor=Pietro S. Nivola & David W. Brady|edition=[Online-Ausg.]|location=Washington, DC}}</ref>

=== Pernicious polarization ===
In political science, pernicious polarization occurs when a single [[Cleavage (politics)|political cleavage]] overrides other divides and commonalities to the point it has boiled into a single divide which becomes entrenched and self-reinforcing.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=McCoy|first1=Jennifer|last2=Rahman|first2=Tahmina|date=2016-07-25|title=Polarized Democracies in Comparative Perspective: Toward a Conceptual Framework|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336830321}}</ref> Unlike most types of polarization, pernicious polarization does not need to be [[Ideological continuum|ideological]]. Rather, pernicious polarization operates on a single political cleavage, which can be [[Political party|partisan identity]], [[Religion|religious]] vs [[Secularism|secular]], [[Globalism|globalist]] vs [[Nationalism|nationalist]], [[Urban area|urban]] vs [[Rural area|rural]], etc.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=McCoy|first1=Jennifer|last2=Somer|first2=Murat|date=2019-01-01|title=Toward a Theory of Pernicious Polarization and How It Harms Democracies: Comparative Evidence and Possible Remedies|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|language=en|volume=681|issue=1|pages=234–271|doi=10.1177/0002716218818782|issn=0002-7162|doi-access=free|s2cid=150169330}}</ref> This political divide creates an explosion of mutual group [[distrust]] which hardens between the two political parties (or [[Coalitions of parties|coalitions]]) and spreads beyond the political sphere into societal relations.<ref name=":3" /> People begin to perceive politics as "us" vs "them."<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last1=Somer|first1=Murat|last2=McCoy|first2=Jennifer|date=2019-01-01|title=Transformations through Polarizations and Global Threats to Democracy|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume=681|issue=1|pages=8–22|doi=10.1177/0002716218818058|issn=0002-7162|doi-access=free|s2cid=149764414}}</ref> The office of Ombudsman of Argentina has been vacant since 2009, along with a companion Public Defender's office, allegedly because of pernicious polarization.<ref><!-- Pablo Ezequiel Stropparo (2023) "Pueblo desnudo y público movilizado por el poder"-->{{cite Q|Q120637687}}</ref>

====Causes====
According to Carothers & O'Donohue (2019), pernicious polarization is a process most often driven by a single political cleavage dominating an otherwise pluralistic political life, overriding other cleavages.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=and|date=2019-04-01|title=Democracies Divided|url=https://www.brookings.edu/book/democracies-divided/|access-date=2019-11-24|website=Brookings|language=en-US}}</ref> On the other hand, Slater & Arugay (2019) have argued that it's not the depth of a single social cleavage, but the political elite's process for removing a leader which best explains whether or not polarization truly becomes pernicious.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Arugay, Slater|first=Aires, Dan|date=2019|title=Polarizing Figures: Executive Power and Institutional Conflict in Asian Democracies|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|volume=62|pages=92–106|doi=10.1177/0002764218759577|doi-access=free}}</ref> Lebas & Munemo (2019) have argued pernicious polarization is marked by both deeper societal penetration and segregation than other forms of political polarization, making it less amenable to resolution.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=LeBas|first1=Adrienne|last2=Munemo|first2=Ngonidzashe|date=2019-01-01|title=Elite Conflict, Compromise, and Enduring Authoritarianism: Polarization in Zimbabwe, 1980–2008|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|language=en|volume=681|issue=1|pages=209–226|doi=10.1177/0002716218813897|issn=0002-7162|doi-access=free|s2cid=150337601}}</ref> It is agreed, however, that pernicious polarization reinforces and entrenches itself, dragging the country into a downward spiral of anger and division for which there are no easy remedies.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":4" />

====Effect on governance====
Pernicious polarization makes [[compromise]], [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]], interaction, and [[Toleration|tolerance]] increasingly costly and tenuous for individuals and political actors on both sides of the divide.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last=Somer, McCoy|first=Murat, Jennifer|date=2018|title=Deja Vu? Polarization and Endangered Democracies in the 21st Century|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|volume=62|pages=3–15|doi=10.1177/0002764218760371|doi-access=free}}</ref> Pernicious polarization routinely weakens respect for democratic norms, corrodes basic [[Legislature|legislative]] processes, undermines the nonpartisan nature of the [[judiciary]] and fuels public disaffection with political parties. It exacerbates intolerance and [[discrimination]], diminishes societal [[Trust (social science)|trust]], and increases [[violence]] throughout the society. As well as potentially leading to [[democratic backsliding]].<ref name=":6" /> In country-by-country instances of pernicious polarization, it is common to see the winner exclude the loser from positions of power or using means to prevent the loser from becoming a threat in the future. In these situations, the loser typically questions the legitimacy of the institutions allowing the winner to create a [[hegemony]], which causes citizens to grow [[Cynicism (contemporary)|cynical]] towards politics. In these countries, politics is often seen as a self-referential power game that has nothing to do with people.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vegetti|first=Federico|date=2019-01-01|title=The Political Nature of Ideological Polarization: The Case of Hungary|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|language=en|volume=681|issue=1|pages=78–96|doi=10.1177/0002716218813895|issn=0002-7162|doi-access=free|s2cid=199896426}}</ref>

====Effect on public trust====
{{Further|Post-truth politics}}
Perniciously polarized societies often witness public [[Controversy|controversies]] over factually provable questions. During this process, [[fact]]s and moral truths increasingly lose their weight, as more people [[Conformity|conform]] to the messages of their own bloc. Social and political actors such as [[journalist]]s, [[Academic staff|academics]], and [[politician]]s either become engaged in [[Partisan (politics)|partisan]] storytelling or else incur growing [[social]], [[Politics|political]], and [[Economics|economic]] costs. Electorates lose confidence in [[Public institution (United States)|public institutions]]. Support for norms and [[democracy]] decline. It becomes increasingly difficult for people to act in a [[Morality|morally principled]] fashion by appealing to the [[truth]] or acting in line with one's [[Value (ethics)|values]] when it conflicts with one's party interests.<ref name=":9" /> Once pernicious polarization takes hold, it takes on a life of its own, regardless of earlier [[intention]]s.<ref name=":5" />

===Benefits of polarization===
Several political scientists have argued that most types of political polarization are beneficial to democracy, as well as a natural feature. The simplifying features of polarization can help [[democratization]]. Strategies which depend on [[Opposition (politics)|opposition]] and [[Social exclusion|exclusion]] are present in all forms of observed politics.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schattschneider|first=E. E. (Elmer Eric)|url=https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog/bib_5918589|title=The semisovereign people: a realist's view of democracy in America|date=1975|publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0030133664|location=Boston, MA|access-date=2019-10-26|archive-date=2023-04-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406025447/https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog/bib_5918589|url-status=dead}}</ref> Political polarization can help transform or disrupt the [[status quo]], sometimes addressing [[injustice]]s or imbalances in a [[Populism|popular]] vs. [[Oligarchy|oligarchic]] [[Class conflict|struggle]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stavrakakis|first=Yannis|date=January 2018|title=Paradoxes of Polarization: Democracy's Inherent Division and the (Anti-) Populist Challenge|journal=American Behavioral Scientist|volume=62|issue=1|pages=43–58|doi=10.1177/0002764218756924|issn=0002-7642|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Slater|first=Dan|date=2013|editor-last=Diamond|editor-first=Larry|editor2-last=Kapstein|editor2-first=Ethan B.|editor3-last=Converse|editor3-first=Nathan|editor4-last=Mattlin|editor4-first=Mikael|editor5-last=Phongpaichit|editor5-first=Pasuk|editor6-last=Baker|editor6-first=Chris|title=Democratic Careening|journal=World Politics|volume=65|issue=4|pages=729–763|doi=10.1017/S0043887113000233|issn=0043-8871|jstor=42002228|s2cid=201767801}}</ref>

Political polarization can serve to unify, invigorate, or mobilize potential [[Alliance|allies]] at the elite and mass levels. It can also help to divide, weaken, or pacify competitors. Even the most celebrated [[social movement]]s can be described as a "group of people involved in a conflict with clearly defined opponents having a conflictual orientation toward an opponent and a common identity."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kriesi|first=Hanspeter|title=Comparative Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0191851018|editor-last=Caramani|editor-first=Daniele|edition=4th|chapter=16. Social movements|doi=10.1093/hepl/9780198737421.003.0018|doi-broken-date=14 November 2024 |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordpoliticstrove.com/view/10.1093/hepl/9780198737421.001.0001/hepl-9780198737421-chapter-16|access-date=2019-10-26|archive-date=2019-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026233348/https://www.oxfordpoliticstrove.com/view/10.1093/hepl/9780198737421.001.0001/hepl-9780198737421-chapter-16|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Political polarization can also provide voting [[heuristic]]s to help voters choose among [[candidate]]s, enabling political parties to mobilize supporters and provide programmatic choices.<ref name="Polarized">{{Cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=James E.|url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172163/polarized|title=Polarized|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691172163}}</ref> Polarizing politics can also help to overcome internal differences and frame a common identity, based in part on a common opposition to those resisting [[reform]]s. Still, polarization can be a risky political tool even when intended as an instrument of democratization, as it risks turning pernicious and self-propagating.<ref name=":4" />