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交流的性质发生了显著的变化。推动这一转变的原因是政党越来越多地使用新媒体技术，以及它们越来越依赖“政治医生”、政治咨询公司、民调机构和大数据分析师的服务。虽然这些新的竞选技巧使政客们能够以前所未有的精确度瞄准选民，但它也助长了错误信息和阴谋论在公共领域的传播，促进了挖掘选民个人信息的道德可疑做法，并导致人们对选举公平的看法下降。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？而且，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员分析了上述发达工业民主国家竞选活动性质的变化，并将其称为“政治职业化”，但到目前为止，很少有人致力于研究全球南部的这一现象。我的博士研究是在发展中国家的背景下对这场辩论进行的首批学术干预之一，通过这样做，我挑战了政治职业化仅是技术变革和/或社会政治现代化的结果的假设。相反，我认为，这一过程中涉及的技术和行为者是政治文化更深层次转变的一部分，通过这种转变，民主国家的参与性变得更低，而更多的是寡头政治。为了说明这一点，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、战略制定和商议的舞台。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在当代民主国家无处不在的“假新闻”背后的组织机制。在我担任研究员期间，我的目标是通过面向学术和非学术受众的出版物来巩固我的研究。短暂的额外实地考察也将使我更好地了解印度地方一级的政治职业化是如何展开的。我尤其热衷于探索如何利用我的研究结果为如何更好地管理和监测竞选活动和政党活动提供政策解决方案。虽然许多学者此前曾试图在这个问题上提供基于政策的解决方案，但他们的主要关注点一直是培养选民的政治宣传消费。相反，我打算探讨如何更好地监管和监督政治宣传的制作。由于政党产生政治沟通的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切入点。通过进一步发展我的这一研究方向，我预计我的学术研究将能够在印度和其他地方推动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.