When polarization shifts into survivalist mode, democracy is in danger

“I went to Congress as a collaborator, and now I'm in an environment where the Republicans want to rule or ruin-- that's the mindset,” Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told me in January. “There's no room for collaboration…Do you believe in rule of law or do you believe in violence? That's the battle in Washington right now.”

Rep. Swalwell’s comment, which reflects a political class that is deeply divided, prompts thoughts on polarization. We often hear about polarization as a fixed state of affairs, rather than as a process that can deepen if there is a political will driving it, as there is in the US today.

Disaffection with liberal democracy, rising economic inequality, and social media’s exposure of billions to disinformation are among the factors that have contributed to the spread of polarization around the world, as studies show. Polarization is likely here to stay, and democracies need to find ways to contain and reverse it. That will be the subject of a future essay.   

History is clear on who benefits from polarization: It’s never democracies. For a century, anti-democratic movements and parties have encouraged it. When it is joined to an illiberal political design, polarization can become “energized,” shading into survivalist states of mind.

In the hands of authoritarians, the low-level rancor of me vs. you can become me or you –the idea that only one of us can survive the encounter – leading to violence and other lawless behaviors. It is deeply worrying that in the US, Republicans are not just accelerating polarization, but shifting into survivalist mode.

Polarization, like propaganda, feeds on existing biases and tribalist impulses that are continually refreshed as we do research on line or scroll through the news, absorbing algorithmically-selected ads and friend/follow suggestions. Safiya Umoja Noble’s powerful book on how search engines reinforce racism demonstrates this dynamic.

Illiberal politicians and their media allies build on this, feeding us images and rhetoric designed to encourage anti-democratic behaviors and outcomes. Media disinformation and conspiracy theories that undermine shared assumptions and truths act in harmony with political polarization, creating enemies and scapegoats that further foment division, suspicion and hostility. 

The global right’s exploitation of the pandemic to destroy accepted scientific and public health practices is one example. Schools, town councils, hospitals and clinics become sites of conflict. Anti-science aggression (to use Peter Hotez’s term) and hostility to education have turned previously respected community members, like teachers, health officials, and nurses, into enemies.

Far-right anti-mask protester from the convoy movement, Maryland, March 2022. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images.

In Turkey, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demonized hundreds of thousands of Turks as state enemies, a 2019 study found that almost eight of ten Turks would not want their daughter to marry someone who votes for the political party they most dislike, and three-quarters of Turks would not want to do business with such a person. This is polarization working as intended to destroy community ties.

Authoritarian leaders like Erdogan are another main driver of polarization. They decree that entire groups of people should be considered dangerous to society, and create political and civic cultures that eliminate opportunities for free discussion by imprisoning, threatening into silence, or forcing into exile anyone who disagrees with their views.

 Over time, authoritarians may guide their countries to the survivalist phase of polarization, when those who challenge them are depicted as threats to be treated with violence.

This is what we are now living through in the US, where four years of propaganda by Donald Trump and the radicalization of the GOP prepared the ground for survivalist ideologies to take hold. A January 2021 survey found that 36% of Americans --almost 100 million adults--agreed "the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it."

Many Republican messaging campaigns are inculcating survivalism. The Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which explicitly fosters an us or them mindset (leading to tragedies like the Buffalo shooting by an extremist who wanted to kill as many of “them” as possible), is one example. Trump’s speech at the Jan. 6 rally (“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore”) is another.

Polarization is just the start of a process that aims to get people into a state of fear about losing everything, preparing them to accept authoritarian solutions to democratic issues of free speech and coexistence with diversity.

The neutral language the US media uses when it delivers the latest news about how polarized we are covers up the authoritarian political design behind this process. “70% agree with the statement that America is so polarized that it can no longer solve major issues facing the country,” says an NBC News poll.  

Yet the breakdowns of communication and democratic methods of managing differences are not neutral and natural occurrences. They are encouraged by Fox News disinformation and enemy formation, and by the actions of GOP politicians who have abandoned collaborative and democratic norms.

“Do you believe in the rule of law or do you believe in violence?” Every citizen and media professional should be asking Republicans Rep. Swalwell’s question. We may already know the answer to this question, and we may have little hope of accountability. Yet we must call out the GOP’s turn to authoritarianism while we still can.