How does conspiracism relate to representative democracy?

阴谋论与代议制民主有何关系？

• 批准号: 2280106
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2280106
• 关键词: How; does; conspiracism; relate; representative

"This research project will develop an original account of the relationship between conspiracism and representative democracy. A critical approach will be adopted, examining conspiracy theory in the context of representative democracy, rather than taking conspiracism in isolation. In this way, the project will aim to provide a truly political understanding of conspiracism in contemporary democratic societies. This project will propose that the threat of conspiracism is actually inherent to representative democracy, rather than being an external threat.Conspiracism has been particularly prominent in democratic societies in recent years, with a number of overtly political conspiracy theories gaining traction across the political spectrum. Conspiracy theories such as 'QAnon', a wide ranging theory that claims President Donald Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller are secretly cooperating to uncover the 'deep state' and hidden network of paedophiles, have achieved popularity among Trump supporters. Meanwhile, opponents of Trump have accused him of plotting with the Russian government to win the 2016 presidential election.While such conspiracy theories have a plainly political agenda to them (to boost confidence in Trump, or to undermine him) academic studies of conspiracism have largely neglected its political aspects. Instead, studies tend to focus on epistemic questions (How can we identify conspiracy theories? Should we reject conspiracy theory per se?) or investigate the psychological makeup of conspiracy theory believers.Alfred Moore attempts to rectify this dearth somewhat by introducing the concept of 'conspiracy politics' - that is, the use of political speech and rhetoric to imply the existence of hidden and malign agency in relation to an event. Moore follows Muirhead & Rosenblum in arguing that political representatives have a duty to not engage in conspiracy politics, as doing so breeds distrust in democratic institutions. Other approaches have advocated for the government to be more active in challenging conspiracy theorising. Sunstein & Vermeule, for example, propose that government agents should infiltrate networks of conspiracy theorists and try to debunk the factual claims made by particular conspiracy theories.While following Moore in examining the political side of conspiracy theory, this project will move beyond the approaches mentioned above by adopting a critical approach. Rather than outlining strategies or reforms that could minimise the threat posed by conspiracism, this project will closely examine the impact of representative democracy upon conspiracism. In this sense, the scope of this project will be far broader than in previous studies.This research project will put forward an original line of argument, beginning with the hypothesis that representative democracy itself facilitates conspiracism. In representative democracy, the people (or the electorate) are separated from the state, and so elect representatives to convey their views and concerns. As Muirhead & Rosenblum note, political parties fulfil this role of bridging the gap between the people and the state and mediating between the two. However, parties face a dilemma when their constituents may hold unwarranted conspiratorial fears; should they express and convey these fears unquestioningly, or confront them? Engaging in conspiracy politics could see a party gain the trust of the electorate and achieve electoral success, but this would also breed distrust of democratic institutions more generally. In this sense, conspiracism is not simply an external threat but is a permanent risk internal to representative democracy. As such, representative democracy cannot be reformed or safeguarded from conspiracism. Alternative forms of democracy must be explored, such as that outlined in Rousseau's 'The Social Contract', where the divide between people and state is reduced and far more space is provided for civic participation b

“这个研究项目将发展阴谋主义和代议制民主之间的关系的原始帐户。将采用批判的方法，在代议制民主的背景下审查阴谋论，而不是孤立地看待阴谋论。通过这种方式，该项目旨在提供对当代民主社会中阴谋主义的真正政治理解。这个项目将提出，阴谋主义的威胁实际上是代议制民主所固有的，而不是一个外部的威胁。阴谋主义近年来在民主社会中特别突出，一些公开的政治阴谋理论在政治光谱中获得了牵引力。阴谋论，如“QAnon”，一个广泛的理论，声称总统唐纳德特朗普和特别顾问罗伯特穆勒正在秘密合作，以揭露“深层状态”和隐藏的恋童癖网络，已经在特朗普支持者中流行起来。与此同时，特朗普的反对者指责他与俄罗斯政府密谋赢得2016年总统大选。尽管这种阴谋论有着明显的政治目的（增强对特朗普的信心，或者削弱他），但对阴谋论的学术研究在很大程度上忽略了它的政治方面。相反，研究往往集中在认识问题上（我们如何识别阴谋论？我们应该拒绝阴谋论本身吗？）或者调查阴谋论信徒的心理构成。阿尔弗雷德摩尔试图通过引入“阴谋政治”的概念来纠正这种缺乏-即使用政治言论和修辞来暗示与事件有关的隐藏和恶意机构的存在。摩尔追随缪尔黑德和罗森布卢姆的观点，认为政治代表有责任不参与阴谋政治，因为这样做会滋生对民主制度的不信任。其他方法主张政府更积极地挑战阴谋论。例如，Sunstein & Vermeule建议政府代理人应该渗透到阴谋理论家的网络中，并试图揭穿特定阴谋理论所提出的事实主张。在遵循摩尔研究阴谋论的政治方面的同时，这个项目将通过采用批判性方法超越上述方法。本项目将仔细研究代议制民主对阴谋主义的影响，而不是概述可以最大限度地减少阴谋主义威胁的战略或改革。从这个意义上讲，本研究的范围将比以往的研究要广泛得多。本研究将提出一个原创性的论点，首先假设代议制民主本身会促进阴谋主义。在代议制民主中，人民（或选民）与国家分离，因此选举代表来表达他们的观点和关注。正如Muirhead & Rosenblum所指出的，政党履行了弥合人民和国家之间差距并在两者之间进行调解的角色。然而，当其选民可能持有毫无根据的阴谋恐惧时，政党面临着一个困境;他们应该毫无疑问地表达和传达这些恐惧，还是面对这些恐惧？参与阴谋政治可以让一个政党赢得选民的信任并取得选举成功，但这也会滋生对民主制度的更普遍的不信任。从这个意义上说，阴谋主义不仅是一种外部威胁，而且是代议制民主内部的永久性风险。因此，代议制民主无法改革或免于阴谋主义。必须探索民主的替代形式，如卢梭的《社会契约论》中所概述的那样，在这种形式下，人民和国家之间的鸿沟被缩小，为公民参与提供了更多的空间B