Global trends are polarizing us: Can democracy handle it?

Big problems don’t always polarize societies. Indeed, having an external enemy can cause a society to increase its internal levels of trust and coherence. Moreover, societies can be destabilized without becoming polarized: a pandemic or natural disaster can incapacitate people and their institutions without causing them to choose sides and fight.

However, today the world faces historically unique stresses that are likely to be increasingly polarizing for many societies. These stresses can be divided into three groups—environmental, economic, and technological. After examining these, we’ll explore two questions: first, is democracy inherently more polarizing than autocratic forms of government? And second, are democracies or autocracies better at handling crises?

Three Baskets of Societal Stressors

Arguably, the biggest environmental crisis facing humanity today is climate change. Just one of its likely impacts will be that, as many regions of the planet become hotter and more arid, the current inhabitants will be forced to move. Large-scale migration often puts stress on political systems in countries receiving migrants, and immigration is already a hot-button issue polarizing the U.S. and many European nations. Public backlash is understandable: the arrival of large numbers of people, who may speak a different language and practice a different religion, can lead non-immigrants to fear their communities being changed or negatively impacted—even though immigrants often bring cultural diversity and economic benefit. For their part, immigrants may have little choice but to move from their home country, and may face discrimination in their new surroundings.