Journalists and pundits have described political polarization as one of the foremost problems of our time. It has been ascribed to trends such as changing party compositions, racial and ethnic divisions, and the rise of partisan cable news. This seminar will present new research on social media and political polarization in both the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a focus on tactics that could mitigate the effects of polarization. These include examining the effects of 1) news consumers deactivating Facebook and 2) introducing a common enemy to reduce conflict between members of rival political groups. This event is open to the public, but registration is required.
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