The Polarisation Compass

A tool for reading the relationship beneath tension, recognising thresholds where it shifts, and choosing what the situation needs

A Version for the Radix Project involving peace workers and youth leaders.

The Polarisation Compass

Wherever people see the same thing differently, there is tension. Tension is neither good nor bad in itself: it is the energy of difference, and it can strengthen a relationship or tear it apart. What decides which is not how much tension there is, but the quality of the relationship carrying it — whether people stay in contact and keep recognising one another, or lose both. The Compass reads that quality. It shows where a situation stands, marks the thresholds where it changes character, and helps you choose what the moment needs. It runs both ways: relationships come apart, and they recover — and the earlier you can read where you are, the more you can do. A relationship can come apart in two ways — loudly, through conflict, or quietly, through separation — and the Compass reads both.

Below is an overview of different stages of tension in this tool.

You can also go directly to a more detailed description of the zones here.

Green — Tension held

"We see things differently — but we're still talking."
What marks this zone is not how calm or how heated things are, but that contact and recognition are still intact.

Light Blue — Honesty withdraws

"People are complaining — but not to each other."
What marks this zone is not whether the room is calm or prickly, but that the honest conversation has quietly left the shared space.

Blue - Sides forming

"It's become us and them."
What marks this zone is not whether the sides clash loudly or simply drift apart, but that the field has sorted into camps, and the ground between them is emptying.

Indigo — Drifting apart

"They don't come to shared spaces anymore."
What marks this zone is not how quiet the separation has become, but that contact itself has been lost. This is the break — from here the conflict can turn hot or cold, and a quiet drift now is no promise of a quiet future.

Purple — Loyalty hardens

"You're either with us or against us."      "Why are you still talking to them?"
Past the break, the conflict hardens into an identity — a group bound together by what it feels is under threat. Loyalty hardens with it: two ways, toward the fight or behind the wall.

Red — The other no longer counts

"They deserve what's coming to them."       "They're not our concern."
The other is no longer someone to whom anything is owed, and harm has become permissible. It arrives two ways: by striking out, or by turning away.

Dark Red - Elimination

This is war
This zone sits beyond the scope of this tool's intervention advice

Next you can explore which zone your situation most resembles.

To the Zones Page