IB scholars are increasingly concerned with societal polarization. The United States has polarized, but so have many European countries.

The below article:

-          Summarizes the theoretical discussion on polarization in political science

-          Leverages data on values, norms, and demographics of almost 30,000 Europeans 

-          Distinguishes between three “identities” that shape debate across Europe: postmodern cosmopolitans versus urban precariat versus rural traditionalists

-          Describes the changes in these “identities” across Europe over time and across generations

-          Concludes that Europe and the European Union are facing some serious tensions rooted in these three oppositional identities

The paper is open access and can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcms.13342

As  the Journal of Common Market Studies (a journal focused on Europe) is not commonly included on everyone’s reading list, I thought I’d share it with you all.

Enjoy the summer