political polarisation: ideological divides and its implications
This research paper examines how the current issue of political polarisation has seen the rise in identity politics over the last ten to fifteen years, and what this means for the modern day political landscape.
Firstly, polarisation is the concept of leaving behind nuanced opinions and moving forward with the idea that your opinion is 'the best' and the other side's argument is of no importance to you individually. However, as this general consensus of individualism rises on the global stage, it creates an issue of radicalism on both sides of the political spectrum through the loss of the 'centre' viewpoint. In this paper, I will be looking at two case studies of radicalisation - one from the far right and one from the far left which display the reality of its implications; the death of analysis and evaluation and the birth of senseless arguing. As NordForsk news puts it "The spread of conspiracy theories and extremist ideologies may decrease the trust towards public institutions, decision making and democracy. This in turn may lower the interest in political participation, enhance frustration towards the political system and provide ground for further radicalisation."
Using the ISDs definition of extremism as "the advocacy of political and social change in line with a system of belief that claims the superiority and dominance of one identity-based 'in-group' over an 'out-group.'" Looking at this definition raises questions on how a specific group can clearly be defined as this with a label but the closest example in recent media of this far left extremism is the new left period (as defined by the scholar David Rapoport) of the 1960s to 1990s. Essentially, during the new left wave, marxist-lenninist groups such as the Italian red brigades as well as the German red army faction committed terrorist offences along the lines of bombings and kidnappings. Other examples of groups that have been placed under this label is the IRA; following the demise of this group after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement started a ceasefire, far left violence has fallen to extremely low rates. Although, the rise of far left politicians such as Zarah sultana and Jeremy Corbyn are stirring an almost hostile atmosphere on social media towards anyone that takes a more central and practical view on policy.
For this next case study, I wanted to talk about an issue I am extremely passionate about, this being the establishment of reform UK ltd, and specifically Nigel Farage's involvement in the Southport stabbings of 2024. By falsely claiming that the attacker was a Muslim migrant who was here on asylum illegally, reform and Farage managed to incite riots across the country lasting for almost two weeks - completely draining local police forces resources as well as the number of officers that were not injured enough to work. Moreover, innocent middle eastern families and people were attacked during this tragedy, with mosques being set alight as well as hotels housing asylum seekers being broken into. My main point of these examples is that the lack of ability to empathise and understand each other has led to the loss of core British values and morals, as well as the right for everyone to have their own opinion but also the right for everyone to express their opinion and be heard and listened to.
On that note, I'm taking these thoughts over to America where republicans are carrying out an 'attack on empathy'. Focusing more on political polarisation as a whole, the damage that the main 'two party system' of democrats and republicans has caused has done irreversible damage to many and this is evident in the aftermath of the sandy hook school shooting in which the democratic president Barack Obama attempted to introduce tighter gun laws but this bill was struck down by the republican party as they held the majority seats in the house of representatives, therefore followed the new policy of rejecting every single democratic bill on the grounds that it is democratic.
In conclusion, political polarisation and the rise in radical ideologies has done lasting damage to the modern political systems and how they work, especially to smaller parties.