(De)polarisation in values, attitudes and beliefs: comparative perspectives

Date: Thursday 11 April 2024
Location: Bush House, King’s College London, WC2B 4BG, UK (view map)
Registration: free

The Policy Institute at King’s College London, in partnership with the World Values Survey Association, UCL and the Behavioural Insights Team, are pleased to announce a one-day international conference on polarisation.

Keynote speakers

Prof. Pippa Norris

Keynote (hybrid)
Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard University and Vice President of the World Values Survey Association
“Things fall apart, the center cannot hold”: fractionalized and polarized party systems in Western democracies
Prof. Christian Welzel

Keynote (in-person)
Professor of Political Culture at Leuphana University
and Vice President of World Values Survey Association
Mass Polarization, Institutional Distrust and the Breakdown of Democracy? Debunking a Commonplace Dystopia

David Halpern

President of the Behavioural Insights Team and Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London
(In-person panellist)
Prof. Paula Surridge

Professor of Political Sociology, University of Bristol
(In-person panellist)
Prof. Bobby Duffy

Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, King’s College London
(In-person panellist)
Prof. Anand Menon

Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King’s College London
(In-person panellist)

Increasingly, there is real concern about cultural, political and social divides, and their potential implications for how we live well together, both within and across nations.

How connected we feel to others, our faith in institutions, the health of democracy, and the personalisation of politics are just some of the issues being addressed by current research.

In this conference, we aim to bring together international perspectives to explore how theories of polarisation and their applications in empirical work are evolving in a comparative perspective.

The day will feature parallel sessions that cover 34 papers from leading and early career researchers who are carrying out new work on polarisation, built around key themes such as identity politics, political partisanship and the role of religion and the media. Session chairs include Professor Helen Mason, Dr Roberto Foa, Professor David Voas, and Dr Vera Lomazzi, who will be joined by many more leading academics.

The conference will also provide an opportunity to share and highlight the broad and varied research currently being undertaken to track how values, attitudes and beliefs are either coming together or growing apart across the world.

The conference is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Agenda

From 09:00: Arrival and registration

10:00: Welcome and opening remarks by Prof. Bobby Duffy

The UK in the World Values Survey: examining values polarisation in Britain

10:30: Keynote from Prof. Christian Welzel (Hybrid link)

Mass Polarization, Institutional Distrust and the Breakdown of Democracy? Debunking a Commonplace Dystopia

11:20: Break

11:45: Parallel Sessions

P1 - Identity Politics
P2 - New Approaches to the Study of Polarisation (1)
P3 - Partisanship and Polarisation (Hybrid link)

13:00: Lunch

14:00: Parallel Sessions

P4 - Religion & Polarisation (Hybrid link)
P5 - European Perspectves on Polarisation
P6 - New Approaches to Polarisation (2)

15:15: Break

15:45: Parallel Sessions

P7 - Global Perspectives on Polarisation
P8 - Issue Domains and Polarisation (Hybrid link)
P9 - Media and Polarisation

17:00: Break

17:15: Keynote from Prof. Pippa Norris, with panel discussion (Hybrid link)

“Things fall apart, the center cannot hold”: fractionalized and polarized party systems in Western democracies
Panel including David Halpern, Prof. Paula Surridge, Prof, Anand Menon, and Prof. Bobby Duffy

18:25: Closing Remarks from Prof. Bobby Duffy

18:30: Drinks Reception

*Approximate timings, to be confirmed*

*Panels subject to change*