Polarisierung in der Demokratie: Formen und Wirkungen

Abstract

While polarization is widely considered to pose a serious challenge to democratic governance, the manifestations and effects of polarization have rarely, if ever, been assessed from a comparative perspective. Starting from the basic distinction between social and political forms of polarization, this article examines the complex effects of the latter on the working of democratic regimes, and more specifically the quality of democracy. This inquiry suggests that political polarization is not alien to democracy and may indeed generate several welcome effects, suitable to help the cause of democratic governance. At the same time, however, there can be very considerable costs of political polarization which, ultimately, may even destroy democracy. The size of this challenge depends largely on the particular nature and intensity of political polarization as well as the institutional, political and social contexts in which polarization occurs.