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

在过去的十年里，世界各地的竞选活动和政治沟通的性质发生了显著的变化。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“舆论顾问”、政治咨询公司、民意测验专家和大数据分析师的服务。虽然这些新的竞选技术使政治家能够以前所未有的精确程度瞄准选民，但它也刺激了错误信息和阴谋论在公共领域的传播，促进了在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意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？回答这些问题构成了我研究的中心问题。为了解决这些问题，我的研究重点是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上述发达工业民主国家选举活动的变化性质，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背景下对这场辩论的第一次学术干预之一，在这样做的过程中，我挑战了政治专业化仅仅是技术变革和/或社会政治现代化的结果的假设。相反，我认为，在这一过程中涉及的技术和行动者是政治文化更深层次转变的一部分，通过这种转变，民主国家变得更少参与，更寡头化。为了证明这一点，我的博士研究将读者带到了印度民主的“后台”——政治精英与他们的顾问和战略家之间进行规划、制定战略和审议的舞台。关注这个“后台”和控制其权力的人，就会发现阴谋论、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已经无处不在。在我的研究期间，我的目标是通过出版学术和非学术读者的出版物来巩固我的研究。一段短暂的实地考察也将使我更好地了解政治专业化是如何在印度的次国家层面展开的。我特别热衷于探索如何从我的研究结果可以用来告知如何竞选活动和政党的活动可以更好地监管和监督的政策解决方案。虽然许多学者此前曾试图就这一主题提供基于政策的解决方案，但他们的主要关注点是如何启发选民对政治宣传的消费。相反，我打算探讨如何更好地监管和监督政治宣传的生产。由于政党的政治传播生产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有利条件。通过进一步发展我的这一研究方向，我预计我的奖学金将能够在印度和其他地方促进积极的社会和政治变革。

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.