Political and affective polarisation is reshaping democracies worldwide, eroding trust, cooperation, and the conditions for meaningful democratic dialogue. This event presents work from the Democratising Public Debate project, which examines the drivers, mechanisms, and manifestations of polarisation in Argentina and Ecuador.

The presentation will focus on the conceptual and methodological process through which the project developed a comparative framework for studying affective polarisation. Drawing on a targeted review of the literature, qualitative fieldwork, and interviews with political actors, civil society organisations, and media professionals, the research identifies and operationalises key dimensions, actors, and mechanisms of polarisation. Rather than presenting a fixed model, the paper shows how theoretical concepts and empirical evidence were brought into dialogue to develop a coding matrix for the systematic analysis of interviews conducted in both countries.

The discussion will also address the challenges and choices involved in translating a complex and context-dependent phenomenon into a comparative analytical framework, as well as the framework’s potential to identify drivers of polarisation, pathways towards depolarisation, and practical tools for strengthening democratic dialogue.