Transformations through Polarizations and Global Threats to Democracy

This volume collects and analyzes eleven country case studies of polarized polities that are, or had been, electoral democracies, identifying the common and differing causal mechanisms that lead to different outcomes for democracy when a society experiences polarization. In this introduction, we discuss our goals for the volume, the comparative logic we apply to the cases, our overall methodological approach, and the concepts that ground the analyses. The goal of this volume is to explore pernicious polarization, i.e., when and how a society divides into mutually distrustful “us vs. them” blocs, which endangers democracy. Accordingly, we discuss the effects of such polarization on democracies, and start building a foundation for remedies. In this introductory article, we highlight and explain the inherently political and relational aspects of polarization in general and pernicious polarization in particular, present the concept of formative rifts, and discuss how opposition strategies should be part of an explanation of severe polarization.

Reflections: Can American Democracy Still Be Saved?

This article reflects on whether the erosion of democracy in the contemporary United States can be halted. Using the cases and conclusions from McCoy and Somer’s eleven country collective project, it argues that democracy’s decline is not inevitable. A case for cautious optimism emerges from analyzing the coalitions around democracy’s disassemblers and democracy’s defenders. The actors disassembling democracy have activated cleavages and adopted a style of rule that exacerbates fault-lines on the Right. The actors defending democracy have thus far done what’s needed to eventually build the sort of winning coalition that has proven successful elsewhere. Creating broad, cross-class networks, mobilizing peaceful protest, and drawing on mass values that are still supportive of democracy bolster the likelihood of successful defense.

Understanding Political Leadership

This introductory chapter sets out the conceptual and methodological rationale for the book. The chapter reviews the field and places this new approach within the context of current leadership research. The Leadership Capital Index (LCI) builds on advances in understanding of how to track and assess political leadership. It offers the concept of “leadership capital,” as an aggregate of authority that reaches across the traditional divide between structure and agency through a flexible analytical tool. The LCI offers a comprehensive yet parsimonious and easily applicable ten-point matrix to examine leadership authority over time and in different political contexts. The chapter sets out how this tool is utilized in the examination of the eleven-country case studies to better understand and explain the “puzzles” of contemporary political leadership.

Individual Experiences as Cultural – a Cross-cultural Study on Loneliness Among the Elderly

ABSTRACTData from six European regions participating in the Eleven Country Study on Health Care of the Elderly suggested that feelings of loneliness were more prevalent in areas where living alone was rarest and where community bonds were strongest. Individual variables describing life-situation did not explain the differences. The article examines loneliness as an historical and cultural phenomenon. It is argued that loneliness reflects, through complex mediations, the mutual relationship between the individual and the community and the extent to which the ideology of individualism prevails in society. In attempts to understand the differences between the study areas, the article looks more closely into the role of the community and the family in two selected areas: the industrial town Tampere in Finland and rural Greece.