Global Polarization: Exploring Patterns and Consequences

Polarization is a prominent theme when it comes to current trends in domestic politics and is widely used in the debate on contemporary threats to democracy and societal peace. Increasingly, state inter­actions and decreasing respect for institutional commit­ments seem to suggest that polarization may be a defining feature of the contemporary international order as well. But so far scholars in Inter­national Relations have refrained from systematically thinking about inter­national polarization and its inter­play with domestic polarization as a form of global polarization. 

This exploratory project advances concept-building on inter­national and global polarization and conducts pilot studies on the dynamics, patterns, and consequences of polari­zation between states. The aim is to prepare a larger research project that systematically assesses inter­national polarization, its inter­play with domestic polarization, as well as its conse­quences for inter­national cooperation and conflict. 

This cross-program project is coordinated by the Research Depart­ments Inter­national Institutions and Intra­state Conflict and carried out in cooperation with the Research Groups World Orders in Conflict and Regime Competition.

Bild: ~jar{} via Flickr, CC BY 2.0