# Bipolarisation

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{{About||divergence of views from the centre|Political polarisation|the mental illness|Bipolar disorder||Bipolar (disambiguation)|and|Polarization (disambiguation){{!}}Polarisation (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}

'''Bipolarisation''' or '''bipolarization''' ([American English](/source/American_English)) in politics, is a state where forces are organized around two rival powers, neither of which can dominate the other. Its application as a model for [international relations](/source/international_relations) has given rise to divergent analyses.

== International politics ==
The term bipolarization was used to describe the division of the world during the [Cold War](/source/Cold_War) (1947–1991) between the communist [Eastern Bloc](/source/Eastern_Bloc), centred on the [USSR](/source/USSR), and the capitalist [Western Bloc](/source/Western_Bloc). It also defines the state of [international relations](/source/international_relations) during this period, dominated by the confrontation between two [superpower](/source/superpower)s, the United States against the <abbr>USSR</abbr>, and more broadly, between <abbr>[NATO](/source/NATO)</abbr> and the [Warsaw Pact](/source/Warsaw_Pact).

This division of the world between two poles was contested by the [Non-Aligned Movement](/source/Non-Aligned_Movement), which emerged from the [Bandung Conference](/source/Bandung_Conference) in 1955.<ref>{{Cite encyclopaedia |title=Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) |encyclopaedia=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |access-date=11 September 2024 |language=en }}</ref>

Some analysts believe that after the [fall of the Berlin Wall](/source/fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall) in 1989 and the [collapse of the USSR](/source/collapse_of_the_USSR) in 1991, the bipolar system that emerged from the Cold War was replaced by a relatively unipolar system dominated by the hyperpower of the United States, a situation considered positive by the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom who identify with the Western pole but criticized by French leaders who sought to assert a multipolar conception.<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 September 2008 |title=Un monde multipolaire |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2008/09/24/un-monde-multipolaire_1098924_3232.html |access-date=11 September 2024 |language=fr |work=Le Monde}}</ref>

However, the hegemony of the American pole is not very sustainable and, during the 2000s, would give way to a multipolar world sometimes described as chaotic where the powers fail to establish stable relations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Laïdi |first=Zaki |date=2003 |title=Vers un monde multipolaire |url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-etudes-2003-10-page-297?lang=fr
|journal=Études |language=fr |volume=399 |issue=10 |pages=297–310 |doi=10.3917/etu.994.0297 |doi-broken-date=11 July 2025 |issn=0014-1941 }}</ref>

In the 2010s, this relatively [multipolar](/source/Multipolar_world) system would evolve into a flexible bipolar system where the [People's Republic of China](/source/People's_Republic_of_China) would appear as a potential superpower alongside the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vilmer |first=Jean-Baptiste Jeangène |date=2015 |title=Vers une bipolarité fluide États-Unis/Chine ? |url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-defense-nationale-2015-6-page-58?lang=fr |journal=Revue Défense Nationale |language=fr |volume=781 |issue=6 |pages=58–63 |doi=10.3917/rdna.781.0058 |issn=2105-7508 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Domestic policy ==
Bipolarisation goes against "political [pluralism](/source/Pluralism_(political_theory))" in the sense that the political field would be contested by several forces of comparable importance rather than by two main forces.<ref>{{Cite encyclopaedia |date=9 August 2024 |title=Two-party system – Features, Advantages, & Problems |encyclopaedia= Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-party-system |access-date=11 September 2024 |language=en }}</ref> It is often associated with [bipartisanship](/source/bipartisanship). Used in analyses of party systems, the term bipolarization implies both an evolution (transition from the "non-bipolar" state to the "bipolar" state) and a type of system in which the multiparty system is gradually organized into two coalitions, that is to say, into a bipolar system.

At the state level, it refers to the grouping of political forces between two main camps, for example, in the United States, between the [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) and the [Republican Party](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)), or in France between the left and the right. In France, bipolarisation is particularly important in a [triangular election](/source/Triangular_election_in_France), alongside [tripolarisation](/source/Tripartisme).

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Political polarization}}

Category:International relations theory
Category:Political science
Category:Political parties
Category:Sectarianism

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bipolarisation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolarisation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolarisation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.