Political polarization has become an unavoidable issue in European societies, to the point that half of the articles that have been written in all places and times on this topic were published in the last five years. There is a veritable avalanche of paper underway. But this is not only an emerging topic in political science, in the discipline that deals with the analysis of politics as an activity, but it is overwhelmingly present in sociology, anthropology, social psychology and the media. And this is perhaps the most important thing, there is an emotional polarization of the population, of hatred towards those who are not from one's own tribe, a diffuse feeling of anger and displeasure in people's daily lives, that deteriorates the relationships with others. As has been pointed out “we have become polarized” and we do not know how it happened. That is, polarization is not only an issue that affects European societies from an academic perspective, but it also signals a social and cultural change that makes diversity problematic.

In this CIVIS Blended Mobility course we want to illuminate this issue from the perspective of what we identify as a"Revival of ideological politics", that is, of politics aimed not at reaching a consensus to establish harmony in society,but that seeks a friend/foe confrontation understood as the political. In order to analyse this issue, we scheduled a series of multidisciplinary sessions where the revival of ideologies is addressed from a historical perspective, showing how the post-war consensus and the liberal consensus of the final decade of the 20th century have been followed by an unexpected extremism in European societies. This outcome threatens European integration due to exceptional conditions of diversity and accelerated social change. The assessment of this contemporary predicament will be deepened by using the approaches of sociology, political science, philosophy, anthropology and gender and religious studies. 

The physical mobility section of the BIP will take place between 9-13 February 2026 in Madrid. 

During the physical component of the seminar, the daily schedule is the following:

-In the morning, three teachers will have 45 minutes lectures/conversations with the students. Each one will give an updated review of their research on polarization and ideologies from a different disciplinary perspective.

-In the afternoon, up to five students will deliver a 15 minutes individual presentation of their work, followed by a collective discussion on how to improve their research strategies and methodologies. At least two teachers will participate in the presentations chairing them.

The virtual component consists of 10 hours intended to introduce the students in the topics and the basic bibliography. Prior to the virtual meeting, we will send the students a basic set of compulsory readings that needs between 10-20 hours of reading time. Then we will have the virtual meetings along a week. It is scheduled taking into account that the students have at the same time other academic commitments. At least, the students will need 5-10 hours to take notes and organize them. Then there is a weekend in between the virtual and the physical components. At least 10-20 hours should be employed to prepare the presentations by the students. Finally, during the physical meeting, at least 5-10 hours would be needed to prepare each session. Thus, 30-60 hours. The virtual component is understood as an introduction to the topics of the course and as an opportunity for the students to present themselves prior to the physical meeting. The main aim of the virtual preparatory sessions is to get ready to have a cohesive group mood focused on a clearly stated topic.

The virtual component will last 10 hours.

2 Introductory sessions (2 hours) plus 4 (2 hours) interdisciplinary sessions dealing with the topic of the seminar from the disciplines of political science, history of ideas, sociology and gender studies.

• 2 February 2026, 17:00-19:00 CET: Introductory session.
• 3 February 2026, 17:00-19:00 CET: What is an ideology?
• 4 February 2026, 17:00-19:00 CET: Polarization and the Revival of Ideologies.
• 5 February 2026, 17:00-19:00 CET: Conflict and divisions in European societies.
• 6 February 2026, 17:00-19:00 CET: Populism, polarization and ideology.