What Do Measures of Political Polarization Measure and What They Do Not?

When thinking about the intensity of political conflicts we need to distinguish the part that is due to the distribution of public opinion from the part that is due to the proposals to deal with particular conflicts that are present on the political agenda. Political conflicts do not emanate automatically from distributions of preferences. They are activated and structured by policy proposals offered to resolve particular issues. Political polarization cannot be read either from distributions of individual positions or from positions of political parties alone: it depends on both. Moreover, utility distances between different positions matter and they cannot be always identified