Voters across the United States will go to the polls on November 5th to vote for their 47th President, a new Congress, and thousands of important officials and ballot measures at the state and local levels. The Presidential election is forecasted to be close, and the run-up has been marked by one of the largest increases in political violence since the 1970s.[1]
2024 has been referred to as the “year of elections,” with 73 national elections that will see four billion people—more than half of the world’s population—eligible to vote. These elections are occurring in what U.N. Secretary General Guterres has termed an “Age of Polarization”[2] characterized by mistrust, inequality, and escalating violence within and between societies, at a time when pressing issues like climate change, pandemics, and responsible technology require even greater levels of cooperation.
Electoral contests are naturally conflictual but also offer the most promising pathways out of conflict. Elections are rooted in differences in perspectives but agreement on the “rules of the game.” The strength or weakness of the “rules” of an electoral system is rooted not only in the technical quality and details but also in the levels of trust that people have in the decision-makers and in their fellow participants’ willingness to play by them.
People around the world will watch as Americans make their choices and decide who will lead the country over the coming years. Millions will watch not only the outcome of the election but also how voters in the one of the world’s oldest democracies navigate their electoral processes in this “Age of Polarization.”
At the same time, Americans—particularly those working for peace and social cohesion—can learn from studying other societies alongside our own. Most Americans have only seen political polarization increase in their lifetimes. However, other societies—and our own history—have shown that rising polarization can be reversed, societies can become stronger, and contentious politics do not necessarily lead to violence.
I am pleased that Search for Common Ground is partnering with the War Prevention Initiative on this special issue of the Peace Science Digest dedicated to understanding the causes and effects of electoral violence, as well as how peacebuilding interventions can help prevent it.
Since our founding in 1982, Search for Common Ground has worked to address domestic divisions in the United States, as well as in societies across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Today we support more than 120 different locally led and locally designed peace efforts around the world, from popular youth radio programs in Mali to the participation of Sudanese women at high-level ceasefire talks to urgent responses to escalation in the Middle East.
Across societies and programs, our work is rooted in the idea that conflict is an inevitable, natural, and normal part of society but that violence is not. And over forty years, we have seen that peacebuilding tools—from radio programs that humanize the “other” to town hall forums where everyone has a voice to trainings where police and local officials learn to work with members of the public who are not like them—not only reduce polarization but also lead to transformational change and better outcomes for everyone. In that spirit, we launched our latest initiative, Common Ground USA, to address the United States’ current and historical conflicts, anchored in multipartiality or the “dignity of all.”
Today Common Ground USA is working with a broad coalition of civic actors to support state and local actions aimed at reducing risks of violence and building local resiliency, particularly in Pennsylvania and Texas. Common Ground USA and One Million Truths have just launched a multimedia campaign called “All We Share,” which will scale in the days and weeks ahead and focus on the common hopes and values among Americans. In the post-election period we will support a series of “Love Anyway Feasts” to gather around common tables in communities across the country. We will start new campus-based activities aimed at building a more cohesive society in the long term and monitor the health of our society with pulse surveys focused on perceptions of safety, belonging, agency, and the legitimacy of our institutions.
This special issue offers an important intervention at this critical moment for those looking for ways to mitigate the risk of violence around the U.S. elections. As the elections continue to dominate the news cycle, the review articles here offer an empirical overview of the underlying causes of election violence and its short- medium- and long-term effects that we would all do well to mitigate.
I would also direct your attention to the final section of the special issue on the experience of those working to prevent violence, now and in the future. The United States is a polarized society, and the stakes of the November contest feel very high to many of us. And as we head into this period, our eyes will naturally be drawn to the violence and harm that may occur in this electoral cycle. I would encourage the reader to also look to the “dogs that do not bark.” While political violence has been increasing, it is nonetheless extremely rare and overwhelmingly unpopular. It is unpopular due to the civic culture and beliefs of Americans of every stripe and background across the country. This unpopularity is also due to the dedicated efforts of tens of thousands of everyday people working to bridge divides and to build a future that looks better—and less polarized—than the present or the past.
Mike Jobbins
Vice President, Global Affairs & Partnerships
Search for Common Ground
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-politics-violence/
[2] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2024-03-13/secretary-generals-video-message-the-human-development-report-2023-24-reimagining-cooperation-polarized-world
