Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate

党派之争和两极分化迅速加剧，尤其是在网络上，对澳大利亚和其他老牌西方民主国家的社会凝聚力构成了紧迫威胁；当恶意行为者积极推动两极分化以破坏公民对民主机构的信任时，两极分化也是一个关键的网络安全问题。通过引入一个分析框架，区分两极分化的四个关键维度，该奖学金旨在对包括澳大利亚在内的六个国家当代在线和社交媒体环境中两极分化的程度和动态进行首次评估。这些证据有望为我们的社会和民主抵御两极分化的挑战提供迫切需要的有力辩护。

Rapidly increasing partisanship and polarisation, especially online, poses an urgent threat to societal cohesion in Australia and other established western democracies; polarisation is also a critical cybersecurity concern when actively promoted by bad-faith actors to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. By introducing an analytical framework that distinguishes four key dimensions of polarisation, the Fellowship aims to conduct the first-ever assessment of the extent and dynamics of polarisation in the contemporary online and social media environments of six nations, including Australia. The evidence is expected to enable an urgently needed, robust defence of our society and democracy against the challenges of polarisation.