Post-Truth Populism

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

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2. Introduction

   • Open Access

   Saul Newman, Maximilian Conrad

   Abstract

   It is now a common place to say that we live times of post-truth and populism. Everything that has happened since that fateful year, 2016—when ‘post-truth’ was named the OED word of the year; when the Brexit referendum, notoriously characterized by lies, mistruths, and disinformation coupled with populist messaging, was held; and when the archetypal populist and liar-in-chief Trump, was elected as US president—suggests a convergence between the politics of populism and the paradigm of post-truth.

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3. Debating PTP

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Post-truth Politics and Epistemic Populism: About (Dis-)Trusted Presentation and Communication of Facts, Not False Information

      • Open Access

      Jayson Harsin

      Abstract

      This chapter is a theoretical and conceptual contribution to the research on post-truth politics and populism studies, with an emphasis on epistemic questions (especially those focused on ‘disinformation’/‘misinformation’). It proceeds in two parts. The first part critically analyzes the much-cited Oxford Dictionaries’ definition of post-truth, which authorizes a study of ‘post-truth politics.’ The definition is dismissed as unusable, and a different definition and theory of post-truth is proposed, which sees it as only secondarily epistemic. Arendt’s concept of public truth is proposed as a better starting point, with the caveat that current treatments of post-truth misunderstand how public truth can be known (since it is not ‘scientific’ truth), which requires acknowledging its crucial technologically and socially mediated status depending on performative trust. Thus, post-truth is an affective state, an anxious and future-looking public mood about the difficulty of trust-making for securing publicly accepted facts. The ‘post’ refers to an anxiety about what might be on the horizon. Part II, exploring a potential theoretical overlap between post-truth and populism studies, reverses the epistemic focus of populism studies from populists’ ‘counter-knowledge’ problems taken as self-evident by researchers. Instead, it explores epistemic problems in populism studies on the researcher side: the epistemic risks built into the ‘ideational’ definition of populism; and in the tacit understandings of political rhetoric reduced to ‘information’ (transmission and reception) at the expense of more complex notions of mediated communication as performance or ritual, speech acts, and, especially, political rhetoric. The latter is unrigorously reduced to ‘false information,’ and it requires a very different interpretive analytical approach for comprehending the empirical phenomena being called ‘populist’ and ‘post-truth’—disinformation, misinformation, lying, rumor, and conspiracy theory.

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   3. Nostalgic Post-truth: Towards an Anti-humanist Theory of Communication

      • Open Access

      Ignas Kalpokas, Anna Bureiko

      Abstract

      Today’s most prominent discussions of post-truth are united by a kernel of nostalgia, framing the present time as one of cognitive and moral decay and as open to abuse by populists. Meanwhile, this chapter demonstrates that the true object of nostalgia is, instead, the detached and disembodied rational Cartesian subject. Hence, instead of diagnosing the problems facing today’s societies, the mainstream discourse on post-truth manifests close affinities with its own object of critique—(frequently nostalgic) populism. Instead of focusing on a singular truth that has to be made great again, the political landscape postulated in this chapter is one populated by a multitude of truth-utterances, interrelating with each other on a groundless terrain without the possibility of an ultimate fixed order or grounding truth in what is conceptualized as the tragic domain of politics. Only then, it is argued, can a truly pluralist account of political discourse be embraced.

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   4. (Anti-)Populism and Post-truth

      • Open Access

      Giorgos Venizelos

      Abstract

      ‘Post-truth populism’ has received a prominent role in public and expert discourse over the past decade, gaining a further boost since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conventional narratives reveal three overarching assumptions about this ‘new political phenomenon’: (a) that it opposes truth, facts and evidence; (b) that it is profoundly emotional rather than rational; and (c) that it constitutes a threat to science. However, such a framing of ‘post-truth populism’ oversimplifies its complex and multifaceted nature. This chapter argues that the discursive construction of ‘post-truth populism’ is facilitated by the automatic adoption of an anti-populist perspective as a default point of departure in any discussion about populism. Despite widespread research on populism and post-truth, scholarly attention remains overly focused on the causes, and the consequences this phenomenon has on polity, policy and politics. As such, the role ‘post-truth populism’ plays as a signifier in public discourse is largely unexplored. Adopting a critical ethos, this chapter shifts the focus towards the language games surrounding it. Stressing the pivotal role of dominant socio-epistemic structures in constructing knowledge and truth as objective, it highlights the role political elites, experts and pundits play in post-truth politics. This chapter concludes that more attention and reflexivity is required when talking about ‘post-truth populism’, in that the wide and uncritical use of the term, and its a priori association with fake news, mis-/dis-information, anti-vax movements and the like, has both theoretical and socio-political implications. First, the elitism apparent in dominant discourse fails to capture why expert authorities are faced with backlash while conspiracies become popular—even against scientific evidence. Secondly, reactionary forms of anti-democratic and illiberal politics are disguised under the notion of ‘populist’ that functions as a euphemism.

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4. Political Communications and the Media

   1. Frontmatter

   2. The Epistemic Dimension of Populist Communication: Can Exposure to Populist Communication Spark Factual Relativism?

      • Open Access

      Michael Hameleers

      Abstract

      Populist communication has taken on a central epistemic dimension in recent years. This means that populist blame attributions are often targeting established institutions of knowledge, such as scientists and mainstream media. It also implies that the objective status of conventional knowledge is subject to delegitimization discourses. Despite the potential consequences of epistemic populism on people’s trust in established information, we know little about how it is constructed online, and how it may impact citizens’ perceptions of facts and knowledge. Therefore, for this Chapter, I conducted a qualitative content analysis of truth claims on the hyper-partisan media platform Breitbart in the US. In a subsequent experiment, I explored the effects of exposure to epistemic populism on perceptions of factual relativism. The main findings of the content analysis indicate that truth claims on Breitbart follow a populist logic, given that people-centric knowledge claims were emphasized whilst established claims on truth and expert knowledge were delegitimized and flagged as ‘fake news.’ The experiment revealed that exposure to such populist claims on truth and knowledge did not result in a more relative understanding of objectivity and truth. Thus, even though populist communication undermines the ideas of objective expert knowledge by fuelling distrust in established truth claims, this attack on knowledge does not promote a more relative understanding of truth and knowledge among participants. In the chapter, different explanations and implications are presented. Among other things, the relatively high levels of perceived relativism toward facts in the studied population indicate that there is little room for populist communication to influence perceptions on truth. In addition, ideas about truth and knowledge can be regarded as stable traits, and populist communication may be more likely to strengthen and reinforce people-centric truth claims than to fuel general levels of relativism and skepticism toward the objective and fixed status of truth.

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   3. Refusing to Be Silenced: Critical Journalism, Populism and the Post-truth Condition

      • Open Access

      Maximilian Conrad

      Abstract

      A fundamental rejection of mainstream journalism has become a standard feature in the playbook of populist actors. Beyond a potentially legitimate critique of mainstream journalism, populist actors construe mainstream media as part of a corrupt liberal elite that is out of touch with reality as it is experienced by the pure/authentic people. In the literature on post-truth politics, the populist delegitimation of mainstream media has not yet received much attention, in particular as regards the experiences of journalists who are frequently confronted with physical and/or verbal intimidation and/or abuse. This chapter contributes to the literature on post-truth politics by addressing precisely this gap. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with journalists from prominent German TV outlets, the chapter explores journalists’ experiences and analyzes how such experiences contribute to the development of a post-truth political culture. Based on the intimate link between post-truth politics and populism, the chapter argues that the delegitimation of mainstream journalism has created an increasingly hostile climate for journalists that is reflected in an increasing frequency of verbal and physical attacks on journalists. This development has to be understood as part of an effort to silence the voice of critical journalism. Due to the fact that (liberal) democracy requires that citizens have access to reliable sources of information, efforts to silence the voice of critical journalism therefore need to be seen as a crucial step in the creation of—rather than as the symptom of an already existing—post-truth condition.

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5. Counterknowledge and Conspiracy Theories

   1. Frontmatter

   2. ‘The First in the Service of Truth’: Construction of Counterknowledge Claims and the Case of Janša's SDS’ Media Outlets

      • Open Access

      Melika Mahmutović, Marko Lovec

      Abstract

      The chapter investigates the interplay of populism, on the one hand, and truth and knowledge production, on the other, in the context of the post-truth condition. We emphasize that such an inquiry must begin by clearly delineating the meaning of populism as such and by applying that understanding to the populist relation to truth and knowledge production, without essentializing or simplifying the relation between the two. To illustrate this, we assess the case of Janez Janša and Slovenian Democratic Party to show how they employ the strategy of ‘counterknowledge’ to assert their belief in truth supported by alternative inquiry. Our findings suggest that Janša and SDS do not necessarily oppose science or expert knowledge, nor do they solely privilege folk knowledge. Rather, they advocate a particular kind of counter-expertise arising from their own epistemic community in which SDS works to portray itself as the only reliable authority on truth. This way, SDS’s truth-claims are part of their hegemonic struggle used to solidify political antagonisms through a hybrid strategy of political cognitive relativism. Analysis thus shows that populists are not necessarily irrational actors who negate scientific epistemology, but rather issue truth-claims as a way of consolidating their political agenda.

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   3. Three-Step Rhetorical Model of Conspiratorial Populism

      • Open Access

      Eirikur Bergmann

      Abstract

      This chapter delineates a threefold claim that nativist populists put forth in their support of the people. Initially, they tend to fabricate an external threat to the inner nation discursively. Subsequently, they levy accusations against a domestic elite, alleging treachery against the populace, often portraying them as colluding with external foes. Lastly, they cast themselves as the authentic guardians of the ‘pure people,’ pledging protection against both the elite and these malevolent foreign entities—entities they have themselves rhetorically constructed. In the current landscape of post-truth politics, conspiracy theories stand out as one of the most effective rhetorical strategies populist leaders can use. In the chapter, the commonalities between populist conspiratorial ideologues, transcending national and thematic boundaries will be illuminated. The discourse will centre on three salient contemporary conspiracy theories: the notion of Eurabia in Europe, the Deep State in the United States, and anti-Western narratives in Russia. The analysis will reveal how populist figures employ Neo-Nationalist rhetoric in these instances, thereby ideologically conjuring threats from beyond the nation's borders, denouncing domestic elites as traitors who have surrendered the people to adversaries, and portraying themselves as the genuine protectors of the unblemished populace against both the compromised elite and these fabricated external threats.

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6. PTP and Democracy

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Populisms in Democracies Under the Post-truth Pressure: Giving New Life to Public Debate or Blurring It?

      • Open Access

      Elena García-Guitián

      Abstract

      The aim of this chapter is to explore some debates that underlie the perception that we are inhabiting a post-truth context, in relation to the spread of populist movements and leaders that are challenging our understandings of democracy. To do that, first, following the work of authors like Pierre Rosanvallon and Nadia Urbinati, I reflect on the common traits of contemporary populism, despite its important cultural, ideological, and contextual differences. For these authors, populism involves an understanding of democracy that takes it to its limits and has authoritarian traits. Secondly, I assess the claim that we are living in a post-truth context, highlighting the different approaches to ‘post-truth’ and their political implications. This is related to the debate about facts and opinions and the way we envision the epistemic character of democratic politics. Third, I conclude that populism, understood as an alternative model of democracy, damages some of the core elements of liberal democracies, disregarding forms of complex representation of intermediary bodies and their role in the formation of better decisions, which is one of the sources of democracy’s legitimacy.

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   3. New Turn Populism: Ideological or Epistemic? An Inquiry into Explanatory Models of Populism and the Meaning of ‘Post-truth’

      • Open Access

      Peter Strandbrink

      Abstract

      Highlighting conceptual problems in standard political scientific analyses of the ascendance of new turn populism (NTP) in mature liberal democratic politics over the past decade, this contribution interrogates the limits of our attempt to come to terms with a style of politics that challenges core knowledge-building assumptions. Distinguishing it from ideology-based political styles, new turn populism seems unconcerned with the role of truth, evidence-invoking deliberation and reason in political talk to an excessive degree, typically too radical for scholars to grasp its far-reaching ramifications. Having moved from the fringe to the mainstream, Western NTP-political leaders and movements display entirely new levels of contempt for assessable political talk. NTP’s post-epistemic style is, hence, shifting the terms of ideological discourse in ways difficult to explain using normal political scientific methods and conceptual frameworks. It is suggested that NTP does not predominantly constitute a novel ideological package, but is characterised by departure from what is normally considered ‘ideological’ politics in the first place. Traditional methods and analytical interpretations are therefore inherently incapable of strongly assessing the thrust and significance of post-epistemic NTP trends. On this note, this contribution develops conceptual distinctions that clarify and make legible the epistemically anomalous nature of the NTP strand of contemporary politics.

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   4. Populist Democracy and the Post-truth Condition

      • Open Access

      Jón Ólafsson

      Abstract

      The paper explores post-truth as an epistemic condition in which established standards of verification are no longer generally shared and disagreements therefore go unsettled. I point out that two different narratives are implicitly assumed when post-truth is discussed. According to one, post-truth emerges as a reaction to liberalism's epistocratic tendencies and the perceived suppression of the public will by experts and officials. The second narrative, however, places populism at the origins of post-truth, depicting it as a consequence of the populist surge. I do not argue that one narrative must be adopted and the other rejected, but maintain that they should be kept apart. The first narrative helps understand why many currently popular forms of democratic innovation, such as deliberative mini-publics, fail to address the deeper concerns behind the post-truth condition. I argue that such efforts ignore the tension between self-determination and deference to expertise. The populist response to that, however, is to undermine the experts rather than reclaim individual liberty which, as I argue, also paradoxically shows the populist inability to clearly distance its rhetoric from expertise-based policy-making. I conclude that in thinking about the future of democracy truth-orientedness in public discourse is clearly key, yet rather than insist on increasingly robust epistemic structure of democratic decision-making, one should look for a critical reappraisal of the relations of knowledge and policy.

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7. Conclusion

   1. Frontmatter

   2. Conclusions: ‘Mainstream’ Alarmism or ‘Critical’ Complacency? How to Approach Post-truth Populism

      • Open Access

      Maximilian Conrad, Saul Newman

      Abstract

      This volume has brought together ten chapters that address the question of post-truth populism as a new political paradigm from very different angles indeed. While it is almost impossible to summarize the sophisticated arguments made by many of the authors, it is nonetheless possible and hopefully also fruitful to try to draw out some common themes that may stake out the contours of a more profound debate and, potentially, also a new research agenda in this field. One way of drawing out such common themes may be to look at the ways in which the different contributions make sense of the extent to which the presumed new political paradigm constitutes a challenge or, indeed, a threat to liberal democracy.

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8. Backmatter

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