Populist and illiberal forces increasingly steer national agendas from Rome to Warsaw via Paris and Berlin. They do so by creating outrage loops that splinter citizens into warring factions, fuelling polarisation.
Over time, this vicious cycle prevents the sharing of diverse viewpoints, alternative ways of thinking, and pluralism of thought. It creates what we would call a pluralism vacuum. In this situation policy and politics grind to a standstill hijacked by extremist factions that thrive in this context and block the normal exchange of views, trade-offs and compromises that are the hallmark of democratic life.
How do we break this cycle? Can we shift the conversation?
ORA is conceived as a standing “civic immune system”.
Our approach is firmly rooted in the social sciences and builds on research focused on resentment, radicalisation and their role in democratic backsliding. Most notably, we consider analyses of resentment to understand the “backlash formula” that populist political actors have developed to increase polarisation. Starting with populist slogans and their weaponisation of humiliation, we examine how that humiliation stokes the resentment that will sustain the backlash.
We use this analysis in combination with insights from the neurosciences that help us understand the impact of massive exposure to particular media content. Neuroscience shows that polarizing messages trigger dopamine surges that reinforce addiction and perhaps engagement. High-quality, constructive content, on the other hand, can redirect this loop, replacing outrage with satisfaction caused by understanding and cohesion.
Our project will re-inject a variety of hopeful, diverse and stimulating narratives in the public sphere through an AI-driven insight-to-action engine. And our content will be disseminated through a network of experts and stakeholders (think tank experts and academia, actively engaged intellectuals and thought-leaders, economic and corporate actors who want to contribute to a healthy public life, interest groups, trade unions and employer federations, as well as international organisations).
