“Switzerland is as deeply polarized as the USA”

Silja Häusermann, Simon Bornschier, in the publication Democratic Conflict and Polarization: Healthy or Harmful?, you explain the evolution of democratic conflicts and political polarization. In France, national elections took place in July. How was this polarization reflected in these elections?

Simon Bornschier: The elections demonstrated that France is really not that different to any other European country. Although many observers expected to see a shift to the right, the three big political groupings – the radical right, the New Left and the established right in the middle – received a more or less equal share of the vote. There’s an even balance between those at the extremes.

Silja Häusermann: Although France has a different electoral system to most other European countries, the basic issues are the same as those found elsewhere. Trends that we’ve identified in other countries – such as the fact that young people are much more likely to vote for parties at either end of the political spectrum rather than the center – were confirmed.

In your publication, you analyze the increasing level of political polarization in Western democracies. How do you measure this?

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