Elections Campaigns in an Era of Post-Truth Politics: Implications for Research & Policy

后真相政治时代的选举活动：对研究的影响

• 批准号: ES/W006545/1
• 负责人: Amogh Dhar Sharma
• 金额: $ 12.64万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW006545%2F1
• 关键词: Elections; Campaigns; Era; Post; Truth

Over the last decade, the nature of election campaigns and political communication around the world has undergone a marked shift. Driving this shift has been the increasing use of new media technology by political parties and their growing reliance on the services of 'spin-doctors', political consulting firms, pollsters, and big data analysts. While these new techniques of electioneering have enabled politicians to target voters to an unprecedented level of precision, it has also given a fillip to the circulation of misinformation and conspiracy theories in the public sphere, promoted the ethically dubious practice of mining of voters' personal information, and led to declining perceptions of electoral fairness. How do we understand these changes? Are they simply the result of technological change alone? Or, do they indicate a much deeper shift in the meaning and practice of democratic politics? And, what implications do these changes have for the future of democracy? Answering these questions forms the central problématique of my research.To address these questions, my research focuses on electoral and party politics in the world's largest democracy - India. While many scholars and commentators have analysed aforementioned changing nature of electioneering in advanced industrial democracies and have labelled it as the 'professionalisation of politics', hitherto little attention has been devoted to studying this phenomenon in the Global South. My doctoral research is one of the first academic interventions in this debate in context of a developing country, and in doing so I challenge the assumption that the professionalisation of politics is the result of technological change and/or socio-political modernisation alone. Instead, I argue that the technologies and actors implicated in this process are part of a deeper shift in political culture through which democracies are rendered less participatory and more oligarchic. To show this, my doctoral research takes the readers to the 'backstage' of democracy in India - the arena of planning, strategizing, and deliberations that takes place between political elites and their advisors and strategists. Paying attention to this 'backstage' and the people who control its reins of power reveals the organisational machinery that lies behind the circulation of conspiracy theories, targeted disinformation, and 'fake news' that has become ubiquitous in contemporary democracies. During the course of my fellowship, I aim to consolidate my research by way of publications intended for both academic and non-academic audiences. A brief period of additional fieldwork will also enable me to better understand how the professionalisation of politics is unfolding at the sub-national level in India. I am particularly keen to explore how the findings from my research can be used to inform policy solutions on how election campaigns and the activities of political parties can be better regulated and monitored. While many scholars have previously attempted to provide policy-based solutions on this topic, their primary focus has been on edifying the consumption of political propaganda by voters. Instead, I intend to explore how the production of political propaganda can be better regulated and monitored. Since the production of political communication by parties is sequentially prior to its consumption by voters, a focus on the former provides a better vantage point to guide regulatory solutions. By further developing this strand of my research, I anticipate that my scholarship will be able to promote positive social and political change - in India and elsewhere.

在过去十年中，世界各地竞选活动和政治沟通的性质发生了显著变化。推动这一转变的是政党越来越多地使用新媒体技术，以及他们越来越依赖“舆论医生”、政治咨询公司、民意调查机构和大数据分析师的服务。虽然这些新的竞选技巧使政治家能够以前所未有的精确度瞄准选民，但它也刺激了公共领域中错误信息和阴谋论的传播，促进了道德上可疑的挖掘选民个人信息的做法，并导致对选举公平性的看法下降。我们如何理解这些变化？它们仅仅是技术变革的结果吗？或者，它们是否表明民主政治的含义和实践发生了更深层次的转变？这些变化对民主的未来有什么影响？为了回答这些问题，我的研究集中在世界上最大的民主国家印度的选举和政党政治。虽然许多学者和评论家分析了先进工业民主国家竞选活动的上述变化性质，并将其标记为“政治专业化”，但迄今为止，很少有人关注研究全球南方的这一现象。我的博士研究是在发展中国家的背景下，在这场辩论的第一个学术干预之一，这样做，我挑战的假设，政治的专业化是技术变革和/或社会政治现代化的结果。相反，我认为，在这一过程中所涉及的技术和演员是政治文化的更深层次的转变的一部分，通过这种转变，民主国家的参与程度降低，寡头政治程度增加。为了说明这一点，我的博士研究将读者带到印度民主的“后台”--政治精英与他们的顾问和战略家之间进行规划、战略制定和审议的竞技场。关注这个“后台”和控制权力的人，揭示了阴谋论、有针对性的虚假信息和“假新闻”传播背后的组织机制，这些在当代民主国家中无处不在。在我的奖学金的过程中，我的目标是巩固我的研究通过出版物旨在为学术和非学术观众。一个短暂的额外的实地考察也将使我能够更好地了解政治的专业化是如何在印度的国家以下一级展开。我特别热衷于探索如何利用我的研究结果为如何更好地监管和监督竞选活动和政党活动的政策解决方案提供信息。虽然许多学者以前曾试图提供基于政策的解决方案，在这个问题上，他们的主要重点一直是启发消费的政治宣传选民。相反，我打算探讨如何更好地监管和监督政治宣传的制作。由于政党的政治沟通的产生顺序先于选民的消费，因此对前者的关注为指导监管解决方案提供了更好的Vantage。通过进一步发展我的研究这一链，我预计我的奖学金将能够促进积极的社会和政治变革-在印度和其他地方。