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Politics & Government vocabulary · Political News Vocabulary

Polarization

Meaning in politics & government, with examples

/ˌpəʊləraɪˈzeɪʃn/nounCommon term

In politics & government, polarization means: A situation in which opinions in a society or parliament divide into two strongly opposed groups, with less and less common ground between them.

In Turkish: kutuplaşma, siyasi kutuplaşma

How it is used

Common in political science and analysis. Researchers measure growing, deep or political polarization. The verb is polarize and the adjective polarized: a polarized debate. It is often discussed together with social media and declining trust in institutions.

Example sentences

  1. The study looks at how polarization affects cooperation between parties in parliament.

  2. Some researchers argue that political polarization makes compromise harder.

Common collocations

  • political polarization
  • growing polarization
  • deep polarization
  • a polarized debate
  • consensusGeneral agreement among all or most of the people or groups involved in a decision.
  • bipartisanInvolving or supported by two political parties that usually oppose each other, especially the main government and opposition parties.
  • public opinionThe views and attitudes that most people in a society hold about an issue, a policy or a political leader at a given time.
  • ideologyA connected set of ideas and beliefs about how society should be organized and what government should do, which guides a political group or movement.

More terms: Political News Vocabulary

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