Polarisation in the Netherlands: how divided are we?

'We now explore polarisation from a different angle: by viewing it as a gap in how we think about one another', - Eelco Harteveld - Exactly how divided are we in the Netherlands, and what role is polarisation likely to play in our upcoming elections? We discussed this with political scientist Eelco Harteveld, who has spent years studying the political lines that divide society. 'Luckily, the way our electoral process is set up doesn't really facilitate polarisation.' - What is polarisation, anyway?. What is polarisation, anyway? This is an important question to begin with when you want to talk about polarisation, says Eelco Harteveld, a political scientist affiliated with the University of Amsterdam. 'For a long time, political scientists studied polarisation in terms of opposing points of view - what we now refer to as ideological polarisation.' Remarkably enough, there was little evidence to show that in a country like the United States, for instance, differences in opinion had become greater in recent decades than was previously the case. 'This finding was rather confusing, because at the same time, the contrasts between groups did seem to be growing.' As a result, some ten years ago, political scientists began to explore polarisation from a different angle: by viewing it as a gap in how we think about one another. 'We call this affective polarisation,' Harteveld continues, 'and based on this approach, it became clear that polarisation in the United States has increased exponentially.