I-POLHYS 2024

Identifying the Symptoms of Destructive Polarisation

Axel Bruns

• 22 Feb. 2024 – Keynote presented at the I-POLHYS 2024 symposium, Bologna

Presentation Slides

Abstract

Much of the research on polarisation still investigates the dynamics of polarisation without sufficiently defining and conceptualising the concept. This can lead to the conflation of different forms of polarisation in the design and findings of empirical studies; the over-diagnosis of problematic and pernicious forms of polarisation instead of mere disagreement and antagonism; and the unquestioned adoption of technologically determinist perspectives in the search for scapegoats and solutions. Building on a systematic, crossdisciplinary review of the different forms of polarisation that have been proposed and identified in recent studies, this keynote argues for a better demarcation between these concepts in the study of political polarisation as a threat to democracy, and introduces destructive polarisation as a particularly pernicious form of polarisation that is distinguished from more ordinary and less problematic forms of polarisation by a number of distinct symptomatic features. It illustrates these features and their consequences with a case study of the Australian referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in October 2023, which featured a particularly destructive campaign to polarise the Australian electorate.