(De)polarisation in Values, Attitudes and Beliefs: Comparative Perspectives

Join us for a one-day international academic conference, hosted in partnership with the World Values Survey Association, UCL and the Behavioural Insights Team.
 
10:00–18:30, Thursday 11 April
Bush House, 30 Aldwych, London WC2B 6LE 
 
Register your attendance >
 
Speakers
 
Keynote 1, 10:30:
Professor Christian Welzel, Professor of Political Culture at Leuphana University and President of World Values Survey Association (in-person)
 
Keynote 2, 17:15:
rofessor Pippa Norris, Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard University and Vice President of the World Values Survey Association (hybrid)
 
With the following in-person panel: 
 
•    David Halpern, President of the Behavioural Insights Team and Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London
•    Professor Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King’s College London
•    Professor Paula Surridge, Professor of Political Sociology, University of Bristol

The event will be chaired by Professor Bobby Duffy, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, King’s College London 
 
Increasingly, there is real concern about cultural, political, and social divides, and their potential implications for how we live well together, both within and across nations. 
 
How connected we feel to others, our faith in institutions, the health of democracy, and the personalisation of politics are just some of the issues being addressed by current research.
 
In this conference, we aim to bring together international perspectives to explore how theories of polarisation and their applications in empirical work are evolving in a comparative perspective. 

The day will feature parallel sessions that cover 34 papers from leading and early career researchers who are carrying out new work on polarisation, built around key themes such as identity politics, political partisanship and the role of religion and the media. Session chairs include Professor Helen Mason, Dr Roberto Foa, Professor David Voas, and Dr Vera Lomazzi, who will be joined by many more leading academics.
 
The conference will provide an opportunity to share and highlight the broad and varied research currently being undertaken to track how values, attitudes and beliefs are either coming together or growing apart across the world.
 
The conference is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.