Political polarisation
Also called: Polarization · Topic: Democracy: Forms of Government, Principles and Outcomes · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Political polarisation is when a society and its politics split into two or more hostile camps. Each camp sees the other as an enemy, not just a rival. The split often follows identity lines such as religion, language, caste or nationality. Attitudes harden, and people stop meeting in the middle, so compromise and consensus (broad agreement) become hard. It is not a term in the Constitution. It matters because democracy depends on groups competing peacefully and negotiating their differences. The OECD lists polarisation, together with disinformation (deliberately false information) and the rise of populism, among the main pressures on democracies today.
Example
Right-wing populists name immigrants and foreigners as an "enemy of the people". This deepens identity-based polarisation and leaves minorities more exposed. Low trust in institutions feeds the problem. In the OECD's 2024 survey, 44% of people had low or no trust in their national government.
Don't confuse with
- Pluralism / multi-party competition: in a healthy democracy, parties disagree but accept each other as legitimate and can still work together. In polarisation, each side treats the other as an enemy that must be defeated.
- Majoritarianism: this is one community, the majority group, using its numbers to rule over minorities. Polarisation is the hostile split itself. That split can open the way to majoritarianism, but polarisation can also exist where no single group dominates.