Research Paper#Social Choice Theory, Digital Democracy, Preference Aggregation🔬 ResearchAnalyzed: Jan 3, 2026 17:12
Difficulty in Measuring Divisiveness of Proposals with Ranked Preferences
Published:Dec 30, 2025 21:11
•1 min read
•ArXiv
Analysis
This paper investigates the challenges of identifying divisive proposals in public policy discussions based on ranked preferences. It's relevant for designing online platforms for digital democracy, aiming to highlight issues needing further debate. The paper uses an axiomatic approach to demonstrate fundamental difficulties in defining and selecting divisive proposals that meet certain normative requirements.
Key Takeaways
- •Focuses on the problem of measuring divisiveness in ranked preference scenarios.
- •Applies an axiomatic approach to analyze the problem.
- •Highlights fundamental difficulties in defining and selecting divisive proposals.
- •Relevant to the design of online platforms for digital democracy.
Reference
“The paper shows that selecting the most divisive proposals in a manner that satisfies certain seemingly mild normative requirements faces a number of fundamental difficulties.”