Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization

Introduction

At the end of the twentieth century, many political observers assumed that the coming decades would be a time of democratic triumph, with the remarkable democratic wave of the 1980s and 1990s coming to full fruition. Instead, democratic stagnation and setbacks have marked the first two decades of this century to such an extent that today, talk of a global democratic crisis is widespread. New and old democracies alike are confronting a daunting array of internal and external challenges, from the crumbling of public support for long-established political parties and the swelling popularity of illiberal politicians to the growing assertiveness and influence of authoritarian powers and ideas across borders. Recent developments in democracies around the world make clear that political polarization—manifested in increasingly harsh divides between opposing political camps and diminishing shared political ground—is a crucial part of this troubling picture.