IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/osfxxx/3wzfq_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Towards global equity in political polarization research

Author

Listed:
  • Falkenberg, Max
  • Cinelli, Matteo
  • Galeazzi, Alessandro
  • Bail, Christopher A.
  • Benito, Rosa
  • Bruns, Axel
  • Gruzd, Anatoliy
  • Lazer, David
  • Lee, Jae K.
  • McCoy, Jennifer

    (Georgia State University)

Abstract

With a folk understanding that political polarization refers to socio-political divisions within a society, many have proclaimed that we are more divided than ever. In this account, polarization has been blamed for populism, the erosion of social cohesion, the loss of trust in the institutions of democracy, legislative dysfunction, and the collective failure to address existential risks such as Covid-19 or climate change. However, at a global scale there is surprisingly little academic literature which conclusively supports these claims, with half of all studies being U.S.-focused. Here, we provide an overview of the global state of research on polarization, highlighting insights that are robust across countries, those unique to specific contexts, and key gaps in the literature. We argue that addressing these gaps is urgent, but has been hindered thus far by systemic and cultural barriers, such as regionally stratified restrictions on data access and misaligned research incentives. If continued cross-disciplinary inertia means that these disparities are left unaddressed, we see a substantial risk that countries will adopt policies to tackle polarization based on inappropriate evidence, risking flawed decision-making and the weakening of democratic institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Falkenberg, Max & Cinelli, Matteo & Galeazzi, Alessandro & Bail, Christopher A. & Benito, Rosa & Bruns, Axel & Gruzd, Anatoliy & Lazer, David & Lee, Jae K. & McCoy, Jennifer, 2025. "Towards global equity in political polarization research," OSF Preprints 3wzfq_v1, Center for Open Science.
  • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:3wzfq_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/3wzfq_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/67fe2b1fa33864a037763a11/
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/3wzfq_v1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:osf:osfxxx:y79u5_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Matthew S. Levendusky, 2013. "Why Do Partisan Media Polarize Viewers?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 611-623, July.
    3. Ronald E. Robertson & Jon Green & Damian J. Ruck & Katherine Ognyanova & Christo Wilson & David Lazer, 2023. "Users choose to engage with more partisan news than they are exposed to on Google Search," Nature, Nature, vol. 618(7964), pages 342-348, June.
    4. Murat Somer, 2019. "Turkey: The Slippery Slope from Reformist to Revolutionary Polarization and Democratic Breakdown," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 681(1), pages 42-61, January.
    5. Reiljan, Andres & Garzia, Diego & Ferreira Da Silva, Frederico & Trechsel, Alexander H., 2024. "Patterns of Affective Polarization toward Parties and Leaders across the Democratic World," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 118(2), pages 654-670, May.
    6. Isaac Waller & Ashton Anderson, 2021. "Quantifying social organization and political polarization in online platforms," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7888), pages 264-268, December.
    7. Max Falkenberg & Fabiana Zollo & Walter Quattrociocchi & Jürgen Pfeffer & Andrea Baronchelli, 2024. "Patterns of partisan toxicity and engagement reveal the common structure of online political communication across countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Antonio A. Arechar & Jennifer Allen & Adam J. Berinsky & Rocky Cole & Ziv Epstein & Kiran Garimella & Andrew Gully & Jackson G. Lu & Robert M. Ross & Michael N. Stagnaro & Yunhao Zhang & Gordon Pennyc, 2023. "Understanding and combatting misinformation across 16 countries on six continents," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(9), pages 1502-1513, September.
    9. repec:nas:journl:v:115:y:2018:p:9216-9221 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Hunt Allcott & Luca Braghieri & Sarah Eichmeyer & Matthew Gentzkow, 2020. "The Welfare Effects of Social Media," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(3), pages 629-676, March.
    11. Martin-Gutierrez, Samuel & Losada, Juan C. & Benito, Rosa M., 2023. "Multipolar social systems: Measuring polarization beyond dichotomous contexts," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    12. Gregory Eady & Jonathan Nagler & Andy Guess & Jan Zilinsky & Joshua A. Tucker, 2019. "How Many People Live in Political Bubbles on Social Media? Evidence From Linked Survey and Twitter Data," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440198, February.
    13. Alan Abramowitz & Jennifer McCoy, 2019. "United States: Racial Resentment, Negative Partisanship, and Polarization in Trump’s America," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 681(1), pages 137-156, January.
    14. Esberg, Jane & Siegel, Alexandra A., 2023. "How Exile Shapes Online Opposition: Evidence from Venezuela," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1361-1378, November.
    15. Murat Somer & Jennifer McCoy, 2019. "Transformations through Polarizations and Global Threats to Democracy," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 681(1), pages 8-22, January.
    16. Antonio A. Arechar & Jennifer Allen & Adam J. Berinsky & Rocky Cole & Ziv Epstein & Kiran Garimella & Andrew Gully & Jackson G. Lu & Robert M. Ross & Michael N. Stagnaro & Yunhao Zhang & Gordon Pennyc, 2023. "Author Correction: Understanding and combatting misinformation across 16 countries on six continents," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 1797-1797, October.
    17. Jeremy Bowles & Horacio Larreguy & Shelley Liu, 2020. "How Weakly Institutionalized Parties Monitor Brokers in Developing Democracies: Evidence from Postconflict Liberia," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 952-967, October.
    18. Jacob R. Brown & Ryan D. Enos, 2021. "The measurement of partisan sorting for 180 million voters," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(8), pages 998-1008, August.
    19. King, Gary & Pan, Jennifer & Roberts, Margaret E., 2017. "How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, Not Engaged Argument," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 111(3), pages 484-501, August.
    20. repec:nas:journl:v:115:y:2018:p:12435-12440 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Hübscher, Evelyne & Sattler, Thomas & Wagner, Markus, 2023. "Does Austerity Cause Polarization?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1170-1188, October.
    22. Steve Rathje, 2024. "To tackle social-media harms, mandate data access for researchers," Nature, Nature, vol. 633(8028), pages 36-36, September.
    23. Andrea Baronchelli, 2023. "Shaping New Norms for AI," Papers 2307.08564, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    24. Rachel Hartman & Will Blakey & Jake Womick & Chris Bail & Eli J. Finkel & Hahrie Han & John Sarrouf & Juliana Schroeder & Paschal Sheeran & Jay J. Bavel & Robb Willer & Kurt Gray, 2022. "Interventions to reduce partisan animosity," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1194-1205, September.
    25. Chengcheng Shao & Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia & Onur Varol & Kai-Cheng Yang & Alessandro Flammini & Filippo Menczer, 2018. "The spread of low-credibility content by social bots," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    26. Horiuchi, Yusaku & Markovich, Zachary & Yamamoto, Teppei, 2022. "Does Conjoint Analysis Mitigate Social Desirability Bias?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(4), pages 535-549, October.
    27. Alexander J. Stewart & Nolan McCarty & Joanna J. Bryson, 2018. "Polarization under rising inequality and economic decline," Papers 1807.11477, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2020.
    28. Brendan Nyhan & Jaime Settle & Emily Thorson & Magdalena Wojcieszak & Pablo Barberá & Annie Y. Chen & Hunt Allcott & Taylor Brown & Adriana Crespo-Tenorio & Drew Dimmery & Deen Freelon & Matthew Gentz, 2023. "Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing," Nature, Nature, vol. 620(7972), pages 137-144, August.
    29. Arriola, Leonardo R. & Devaro, Jed & Meng, Anne, 2021. "Democratic Subversion: Elite Cooptation and Opposition Fragmentation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 115(4), pages 1358-1372, November.
    30. Pan, Jennifer & Siegel, Alexandra A., 2020. "How Saudi Crackdowns Fail to Silence Online Dissent," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(1), pages 109-125, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Max Falkenberg & Fabiana Zollo & Walter Quattrociocchi & Jürgen Pfeffer & Andrea Baronchelli, 2024. "Patterns of partisan toxicity and engagement reveal the common structure of online political communication across countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Ximeng Fang & Sven Heuser & Lasse S. Stötzer, 2023. "How In-Person Conversations Shape Political Polarization: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Nationwide Initiative," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 270, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    3. Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George & Jiménez-Durán, Rafael & McCrosky, Jesse & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2025. "Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from a Field Experiment," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 741, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    4. George Beknazar-Yuzbashev & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Jesse McCrosky & Mateusz Stalinski, 2025. "Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 11644, CESifo.
    5. Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George & Jiménez-Durán, Rafael & McCrosky, Jesse & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2025. "Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media : Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1543, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    6. Sergei Guriev & Emeric Henry & Théo Marquis & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2023. "Curtailing False News, Amplifying Truth," Working Papers halshs-04315924, HAL.
    7. Eugen Dimant, 2020. "Hate Trumps Love: The Impact of Political Polarization on Social Preferences," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 029, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    8. Pierluigi Conzo & Andrea Gallice & Juan S. Morales & Margaret Samahita & Laura K. Taylor, 2021. "Can Hearts Change Minds? Social media Endorsements and Policy Preferences," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 641, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    9. David Karpa & Torben Klarl & Michael Rochlitz, 2021. "Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Big Data," Papers 2111.00992, arXiv.org.
    10. Beacham, Austin & Hafner-Burton, Emilie M & Schneider, Christina J, 2024. "The Weaponization of Information Technologies and Democratic Resilience," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt6f24q81x, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    11. Marco Grotteria & Max Miller & S.Lakshmi Naaraayanan, 2024. "Foreign influence in US politics," Discussion Papers 2024-12, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    12. Benjamin D. Horne & Natalie M. Rice & Catherine A. Luther & Damian J. Ruck & Joshua Borycz & Suzie L. Allard & Michael Fitzgerald & Oleg Manaev & Brandon C. Prins & Maureen Taylor & R. Alexander Bentl, 2023. "Generational effects of culture and digital media in former Soviet Republics," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Elizaveta Kuznetsova & Mykola Makhortykh & Victoria Vziatysheva & Martha Stolze & Ani Baghumyan & Aleksandra Urman, 2025. "In generative AI we trust: can chatbots effectively verify political information?," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-31, February.
    14. Aarushi Kalra, 2025. "Hate in the Time of Algorithms: Evidence on Online Behavior from a Large-Scale Experiment," Papers 2503.06244, arXiv.org.
    15. Kelton Minor & Esteban Moro & Nick Obradovich, 2023. "Adverse weather amplifies social media activity," Papers 2302.08456, arXiv.org.
    16. Salvatore Barbaro, 2021. "A social-choice perspective on authoritarianism and political polarization," Working Papers 2108, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    17. Simona Mandile, 2025. "The Dark Side of Social Media: Recommender Algorithms and Mental Health," CESifo Working Paper Series 11648, CESifo.
    18. Eugen Dimant & Fabio Galeotti & Marie Claire Villeval, 2024. "Motivated information acquisition and social norm formation," Post-Print hal-04740082, HAL.
    19. Sabatini, Fabio, 2023. "The Behavioral, Economic, and Political Impact of the Internet and Social Media: Empirical Challenges and Approaches," IZA Discussion Papers 16703, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Engelberg, Joseph E. & Guzman, Jorge & Lu, Runjing & Mullins, William, 2021. "Partisan Entrepreneurship," SocArXiv qhs6j, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:3wzfq_v1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://osf.io/preprints/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.