Deception in Democracy: Political Lying Accusations and Their Effects on Democratic Citizenship

Introduction

In today’s age of ‘misinformation’, politicians are frequently accused of bending the truth to their advantage. As citizens rely on accurate and accessible information to meaningfully engage with politics, political lying violates the contract between citizens and their elected representatives. Political lying accusations therefore have the potential to erode citizens’ trust in and commitment to representative democracy as a system of governance.

Background

While political lying accusations may be as old as politics itself, we know little about when accusations of political lying take root, how accusations of political deception are perceived by citizens, and what their effects are on citizens’ democratic citizenship.

Project Objectives

To shed light on the issue of political lying accusations and its implications for democratic citizenship, this project:

1. Describes the historical trends in political lying accusations.
2. Identifies the conditions under which politicians accused one another of deception and characterizes the attributes of both the accused and accusers of political lying.
3. Studies citizens’ perceptions of accusations of political deception by exploring the individual and contextual factors that influence these perceptions.
4. Investigates the consequences for democratic citizenship by examining how exposure to lying accusations affects citizens’ trust in democracy, their support for liberal democracy as a system of governance, as well as their active engagement with politics.

Methodology

The empirical analyses focus on 20 European countries and rely on an integrated multi-method approach including:

• Automated text analysis
• Qualitative interviews
• Observational and experimental surveys
• Longitudinal survey evidence

Conclusion

By addressing these critical knowledge gaps, this project will provide invaluable insights into the dynamics of political deception and its consequences for democratic citizenship.