The POLIGENDEM project “Polarization, Gender Identity and Multilevel Democracy” aims to analyze the interaction between institutional structures and political and social actors in a multilevel democratic system, specifically the Spanish one, in order to understand and explain the processes of consensus breakdown and the emergence of dynamics of political and social polarization in relation to policies of recognition of gender identity and diversity.

This basic objective is pursued through a multidisciplinary approach from political science and sociology that allows us to analyze the link between: 1) the demands advanced by political activism and social movements, 2) the response of the parties through legislative reforms, and, 3) the social values ​​and political attitudes of citizens in the face of these demands and reforms.

The specific objectives of the project are three:

1. Study of the legislative processes for drafting and reforming regional and state laws that propose policies for the recognition of identity, self-determination, and gender diversity (known as Trans and LGBTI laws) since 2007.
2. Study of the social movements and organizations that seek to influence these policies at both the regional and national levels, as well as their links to global networks of political activism.
3. Study of Spanish public opinion on identity, self-determination, and gender diversity policies and their possible interaction with political polarization.

POLIGENDEM carries out a comprehensive analysis within-caseusing the comparative methodological strategy of the most similar cases at the level of the autonomous communities with the aim of identifying the causal determinants of political polarization in the development and reform of identity, self-determination, and gender diversity policies. The selected autonomous communities are: Andalusia, Asturias, Castile and León, Catalonia, and the Community of Madrid.

Likewise, institutional analysis introduces a multilevel perspective by observing the national political arena (parliamentary activity in Congress and the Senate and various aspects of central public administration) and tracing the processes of upward and downward political change that, from 2009 to 2024, demonstrate an increase in political division and polarization.

The research uses a mixed methodology that combines qualitative techniques (semi-structured interviews with parliamentarians and activists) and quantitative techniques (surveys of a representative sample of the population) for empirical observation and analysis.

POLIGENDEM raises innovative research into the current challenges and tensions of democracyin the area of Democracy and Governance intervention of the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021-2023. On the one hand, research aims to achieve a high scientific impact as its findings will serve to empirically check some key assumptions about the institutional functioning of democracies today, the role of social movements and political activism, the type of social links with the old and new parties and, in particular, the causal mechanisms of growing political polarization. On the other hand, the study also wants to have a positive social impact so that research findings are translated into institutional designs that improve the capacity of representative institutions to structure, absorb and regulate conflicts in accordance with standards based on a contingent consensus. In this regard, it also aims to contribute to mutual knowledge among civil society organizations that express rival or opposing social values and political objectives.

POLIGENDEM is funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2023-148370OB-I00) for execution in the period covered from September 1, 2024 to December 31, 2027.

POLIGENDEM is coordinated at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid by Dr. Fabiola Mota, professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. The study is co-directed by Dr. Gloria Martínez, professor in the Department of Sociology at the Universidad de Sevilla. The multidisciplinary team is composed of nine PhD researchers collaborating from six Spanish universities: UAM, US, UCM, UBU, UNED, and UPO.