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<p>In this paper, I study the emerging political depolarization field in the contemporary US through a network analysis of civil society organizations working to overcome political divides. Because polarization can prevent us from not only solving other social problems, but the problem of polarization itself, I look specifically at whether organizations directly focused on bridging—who represent the core of the supposedly non-partisan depolarization field—practice what they preach by embodying non-partisanship and engaging in cross-partisan ties within their own interorganizational environment.&#xa0;Drawing on data compiled from the Princeton Bridging Divides Initiative, Twitter/X, and AllSides media, I analyze organizations’ partisanship and use Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to assess the likelihood for bridging organizations to form ties across political differences within the political depolarization field.&#xa0;I find that while bridging-focused organizations are left of center overall, they are relatively less left-leaning than their nonbridging counterparts. And, while bridging organizations show no difference in forming ties across political differences in general, they are more likely to connect with politically different organizations when those organizations have a nonbridging focus.&#xa0;I argue that this pattern reflects the strength of the non-partisan ideal at the core of the bridging movement, where bridging organizations apply stricter partisan standards to fellow bridging organizations than to nonbridging organizations for whom political difference is expected and unremarkable. I discuss the implications of these findings for the prefigurative commitments of the bridging movement and for tensions between civic and partisan logics within the broader depolarization field.</p>

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Do Bridging Organizations Bridge? Partisanship and Cross-Partisan Ties in the U.S. Political Depolarization Field

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月18日

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  • Greg J. Wurm

摘要

In this paper, I study the emerging political depolarization field in the contemporary US through a network analysis of civil society organizations working to overcome political divides. Because polarization can prevent us from not only solving other social problems, but the problem of polarization itself, I look specifically at whether organizations directly focused on bridging—who represent the core of the supposedly non-partisan depolarization field—practice what they preach by embodying non-partisanship and engaging in cross-partisan ties within their own interorganizational environment. Drawing on data compiled from the Princeton Bridging Divides Initiative, Twitter/X, and AllSides media, I analyze organizations’ partisanship and use Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to assess the likelihood for bridging organizations to form ties across political differences within the political depolarization field. I find that while bridging-focused organizations are left of center overall, they are relatively less left-leaning than their nonbridging counterparts. And, while bridging organizations show no difference in forming ties across political differences in general, they are more likely to connect with politically different organizations when those organizations have a nonbridging focus. I argue that this pattern reflects the strength of the non-partisan ideal at the core of the bridging movement, where bridging organizations apply stricter partisan standards to fellow bridging organizations than to nonbridging organizations for whom political difference is expected and unremarkable. I discuss the implications of these findings for the prefigurative commitments of the bridging movement and for tensions between civic and partisan logics within the broader depolarization field.