Political Cleavages and Splits in Modern Societies

Abstract

The article analyzes some of the newly emerged socio-­political cleavages and splits in order to determine their role in the political changes taking place in the early XXI century in modern Western societies and in a number of non-­Western societies. The analysis is based on the methodology developed by S. Rokkan, as well as on the sociocultural approach to the study of political processes. The article deals with the following cleavages and splits linked to the processes of globalization and regionalization. 1) The split in the host societies regarding attitude of local population towards immigrants with different cultural background and towards such immigration in general. 2) The split between the “globalists” and “nationalists” in the Western states. 3) The split between the advocates of traditional political parties and the advocates of populism. 4) The split between religious fundamentalists and their opponents. 5) Interethnic and interregional splits (including new forms of separatism and secession). The distinctive feature of these cleavages and splits is that many of them arise from cultural, civilizational and value factors. They are directly related to different components of identity (national, ethnic, regional, religious, civilizational), rather than to social and class divisions. The distinct dynamics of such cleavages and splits is determined by demographic, ethno-­political and sociocultural changes in modern societies, large-­scale technological, social, political and cultural shifts. The study shows that many of these cleavages and splits manifest themselves in modern Russian society and significantly influence political processes in Russia. The author concludes that these cleavages and splits should be taken into account when developing and implementing social policies and management at the federal, regional and local levels, as well as in the interaction of authorities with various social, ethnic and cultural groups.