Existential Judgments Justify Extremism

When a political faction collectively judges the nation as facing existential collapse, ordinary moral and legal restraints loosen and previously unthinkable tactics (institutional dismantling, political violence, emergency repudiation of norms) become justifiable within that community’s internal logic. This is a psychological‑political mechanism distinct from disagreement over policy: it converts disagreement into survival stakes. — Naming this mechanism helps analysts, mediators, and policymakers identify when contests over facts are escalating into existential frames that materially raise the risk of radicalization and institutional breakdown.