Polarization In The Political System

Polarization in the Political System

On Tuesday, November 14, 1995, in what has been perceived as

the years biggest non-event, the federal government shut down all

"non-essential" services due to what was, for all intents and

purposes, a game of national "chicken" between the House Speaker and

the President. And, at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars a day,

this dubious battle of dueling egos did not come cheap (Bradsher,

1995, p.16). Why do politicians find it almost congenitally

impossible to cooperate? What is it about politics and power that seem

to always put them at odds with good government? Indeed, is an

effective, well run government even possible given the current

adversarial relationship between our two main political parties? It

would seem that the exercise of power for its own sake, and a

competitive situation in which one side must always oppose the other

on any issue, is incompatible with the cooperation and compromise

necessary for the government to function. As the United States becomes

more extreme in its beliefs in general, group polarization and

competition, which requires a mutual exclusivity of goal attainment,

will lead to more "showdown" situations in which the goal of good

government gives way to political posturing and power-mongering.

In this paper I will analyze recent political behavior in terms of two

factors: Group behavior with an emphasis on polarization, and

competition. However, one shou...

Polarization In The Political System

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