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Political polarization threatens democratic stability and government effectiveness. Longstanding polarization, or “pernicious polarization,” erodes trust in institutions, increases conflict, and makes it harder to reach consensus. To counter this, open government can build bridges across divides and strengthen democratic culture through inclusive dialogue, transparency that counters misinformation, and accountability mechanisms that prevent political capture. In some cases, it can also help disincentivize profiteering from dividing societies.
Definitions for key terms such as social cohesion, elite polarization, and affective polarization.
Research shows that elite polarization typically drives affective polarization among citizens. Political leaders who use divisive rhetoric, undermine democratic norms, or vilify those who disagree with them consistently drive increased polarization among their citizens. Polarizers may specifically target perceived political enemies, minorities, and women.
To break this pattern, depolarization requires deliberate intervention during windows of political opportunity.
The recommendations below represent reforms that national and local governments, representatives of civil society organizations, and others can consider for their action plans and the Open Gov Challenge. The reforms are categorized according to OGP’s principal values: transparency, civic participation, and public accountability. Reforms should be adapted to fit the domestic context, and involve and coordinate with other levels and branches of government.
Reforms across policy areas are also tagged by the estimated degree of difficulty in implementation. Though progress is often not linear, the recommendations have been categorized using these labels to give the reader a sense of how different reforms can work together to raise the ambition of open government approaches.
Transparency: Transparency empowers citizens to exercise their rights, hold the government accountable, and participate in decision-making processes. Examples of relevant activities include the proactive or reactive publication of government-held information, legal or institutional frameworks to strengthen the right to access information, and disclosing information using open data standards.
Civic Participation: When people are engaged, governments and public institutions are more responsive, innovative, and effective. Examples of relevant initiatives include new or improved processes and mechanisms for the public to contribute to decisions, participatory mechanisms to involve underrepresented groups in policy making, and a legal environment that guarantees civil and political rights.
Public Accountability: Public accountability occurs when public institutions must justify their actions, act upon requirements and criticisms, and take responsibility for failure to perform according to laws or commitments. Importantly, public accountability means that members of the public can also access and trigger accountability mechanisms. Examples of relevant activities include citizen audits of performance, new or improved mechanisms or institutions that respond to citizen-initiated appeals processes, and improved access to justice.
Inclusion: Inclusion is fundamental to achieving more equitable, representative, and accountable policies that truly serve all people. This includes increasing the voice, agency, and influence of historically discriminated or underrepresented groups. Depending on the context, traditionally underrepresented groups may experience discrimination based on gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, age, geography, differing ability, legal, or socioeconomic status.
Foundational: This tag is used for reforms that are the essential building blocks of a policy area. “Foundational” does not mean low ambition or low impact. These recommendations often establish basic legal frameworks and institutional structures.
Intermediate: This tag is used for reforms that are complex and often involve coordination and outreach between branches, institutions, and levels of government, with the public or between countries.
Advanced: This tag is used for reforms that close important loopholes to make existing work more effective and impactful. Specifically, “Advanced” reforms are particularly ambitious, innovative or close important loopholes to make existing work more effective, impactful or sustainable. They are often applied in mature environments where they seek to institutionalize a good practice that has already shown results.
Executive: The executive branch of government is responsible for designing, implementing, and enforcing laws, policies, and initiatives. It is typically led by the head of state or government, such as a president or prime minister, along with their appointed cabinet members. The executive branch’s functions also include overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government, managing foreign affairs, and directing the country’s armed forces. In democratic systems, the executive branch is accountable to the legislature and the electorate, with its powers and limitations outlined in the constitution or legal framework of the respective country.
Legislative: The legislative branch of government is responsible for making laws and regulations and overseeing the functioning of the government. It typically consists of a body of elected representatives, such as a parliament, congress, or assembly, which is tasked with proposing, debating, amending, and ultimately passing legislation. The legislative branch plays a crucial role in representing the interests of the people, as its members are elected to office by the public. In addition to law-making, this branch often holds the power to levy taxes, allocate funds, and conduct certain investigations into matters of public concern. The structure and powers of the legislative branch are usually outlined in a country’s constitution or legal framework, and it serves as a check on the executive and judicial branches to ensure a system of checks and balances within a state.
The following examples are commitments previously made within or beyond OGP that demonstrate elements of the recommendations made above. Social cohesion and depolarization commitments are relatively rare in OGP action plans, as polarization is often addressed through other thematic areas like civic participation, anti-corruption, access to justice, and open parliament. However, some OGP Local members have expressly named social cohesion as a goal in their action plans.
The following examples illustrate conscious efforts at depolarization, mostly through dialogue outside of OGP action plans.
Reducing polarization is an ongoing process that requires continuous reflection and adaptation. Local governments can play an important role in this process, especially when national politics are deeply divided. Provinces and municipalities can test and adapt practical ways to bring people together, create opportunities for face-to-face dialogue, and adopt inclusion policies that build social cohesion. They often focus on everyday issues that unite residents across political, demographic, and attitudinal lines, like local services, neighborhood development, or the environment. Local governments can also build depolarization into a specific goal by using participatory budgeting, citizens’ assemblies, and community planning mechanisms that require people with different views to work together.
When opportunities for national depolarization emerge, often after elections or political transitions, local governments with experience in these approaches can help scale successful models and share lessons at the national level. Where polarization follows geographic lines, such as between urban and rural areas, cooperation among local governments across jurisdictions can also help bridge divides.
Local governments are also well-positioned to implement gender-responsive participatory practices. These include publishing disaggregated consultation data and setting inclusion targets in community planning processes. These may serve as models for national-level reform.
This list reflects members with commitments in the “Inclusion” policy area of the Data Dashboard.
The OGP 2023-2028 Strategy sets out the Open Gov Challenge and aims to provide clear benchmarks for performance through reliable data.
Good data helps track polarization trends, identify drivers, and measure the effectiveness of interventions. Most of these resources are tracked at the general level and are perception or expert-based, not based on presentation of specific policies or governance practices.
While benchmarks for individual countries and Open Gov Guide recommendations are not yet integrated, for this chapter, interested individuals may rely on the following data sets:
While the list below is not exhaustive, it aims to provide a range of recommendations, standards, and analysis to guide reform in this policy area.
Access data on OGP commitments. Filter commitments by location, policy area, and year. Search by keyword.
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