Political Polarisation: Have We Got It Wrong?

What is political polarisation? How different is it from ‘normal’ democratic conflict? And why have we been getting it wrong? Listen to Andreas Schedler and Petra Alderman talk about the meaning of political polarisation, its actors and drivers, and the effects it has on contemporary democracy.

Andreas Schedler is a Senior Research Fellow at the Democracy Institute of the Central European university (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary. He is well-known for his work on authoritarian elections, democratic consolidation and transition, anti-political-establishment parties, political accountability, organized violence, and political polarisation. This episode is based on Andreas’s article ‘Rethinking Political Polarization’ published in Political Science Quarterly.

Petra Alderman is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Leadership for Inclusive and Democratic Politics at the University of Birmingham and Research Fellow at CEDAR.

The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Join us to better understand the factors that promote and undermine democratic government around the world and follow us on Twitter at @CEDAR_Bham!