Political Polarization in Comparative Perspective: Theories and concepts in the light of the cases of Mexico and France

Workshop organized by Willibald Sonnleitner, Senior Research Professor at El Colegio de MexicoEl Colegio de México, fellow 2025-2026 at Paris IAS held at the Institut in collaboration with PERISCoP.

Presentation

The workshop will revise current theories on Political Polarization (which are heavily influenced by the case of the United States of America) drawing on the comparative study of the cases of Mexico and France. Both are experiencing processes of political polarization that have many similarities with the USA (the rise of populism, the strengthening of anti-systemic leaders and anti-establishment parties, etc.), but also country specific peculiarities (political systems and histories) as well as shared, divergent features (fragmented multiparty systems, very different media systems, etc.).

Speakers (draft program)

Pierre Lefébure and Emilie Roche : Polarization and the Challenge to Political Pluralism in the French Media. / Polarisation et mise à l’épreuve du pluralisme politique dans les medias français.

Willibald Sonnleitner: Is Mexico divided? Political polarization in ideological, affective and socio-territorial perspectives  / Le Méxique s’est-il divisé en deux ? La polarisation politique en perspective idéologique, affective et socio-territoriale.

Discussants: Anne Jadot and Alexandre Borrell.

Organisers

This workshop is organised in collaboration with PERISCoP, a research group founded by:

• Alexandre Borrel, Senior Lecturer in Information and Communication Sciences at the Université Paris-Est Créteil, CEDITEC;
• Anne Jadot, Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Université de Lorraine, CREM);
• Pierre Lefébure, Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, CERLIS;
• Camila Moreira-Cesar, Senior Lecturer in Information and Communication Sciences at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, IRMÉCCEN;
• Emilie Roche, Senior Lecturer in Information and Communication Sciences at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, CERLIS.

Practical informations

This workshop, held in English and open to the public, will take place in person at the Paris Institute for Advanced Studies (Paris IAS, Salles Voutée -1, Hôtel de Lauzun, 17 quai d'Anjou, 75004 Paris). A Zoom link is available upon request at: information@paris-iea.fr.