Summary
"The widespread popular support for illiberal leaders seeking to subvert democracy is one of the more puzzling and concerning developments in the 21st century. From Putin through Orbán to Erdogan, illiberal leaders invest large resources into propaganda, organize grandiose displays of support, and promote hostile rumours about their enemies. But do such attempts at manipulation shape citizens' support and acceptance of the illiberal leader? Prior research yields conflicting expectations. On the one hand, research in psychology and political behaviour identified a plethora of cognitive biases, which undermine citizens' ability to punish leaders for their mistakes or wrongdoings. On the other hand, recent evidence shows that people are difficult to persuade, making it unlikely that propaganda could change the minds of citizens who are critical of an illiberal leader. To adjudicate between these accounts, this project will a) develop a novel framework for studying the effects of illiberal manipulation strategies and will examine the effects of multiple manipulation attempts, such as b) hostile rhetoric, c) political misinformation campaigns, and d) populist appeals to fairness intuitions. The project builds on an interdisciplinary framework bridging insights from comparative politics and psychological science, and will employ a diverse set of methodological tools from multiple survey experiments (vignette, conjoint, and cultural transmission designs) as well as quantitative text analysis. Original comparative survey data from Hungary, the US, and Denmark will be used to compare citizens' susceptibility to manipulation under different political environments. The project contributes to the European Commission's priority of ""a new push for European democracy"" by informing pro-democracy stakeholders and citizens on the perils of illiberal citizen manipulation."
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101130870 |
| Start date: | 01-09-2024 |
| End date: | 31-08-2026 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | - 157 622,00 Euro |
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Original description
"The widespread popular support for illiberal leaders seeking to subvert democracy is one of the more puzzling and concerning developments in the 21st century. From Putin through Orbán to Erdogan, illiberal leaders invest large resources into propaganda, organize grandiose displays of support, and promote hostile rumours about their enemies. But do such attempts at manipulation shape citizens' support and acceptance of the illiberal leader? Prior research yields conflicting expectations. On the one hand, research in psychology and political behaviour identified a plethora of cognitive biases, which undermine citizens' ability to punish leaders for their mistakes or wrongdoings. On the other hand, recent evidence shows that people are difficult to persuade, making it unlikely that propaganda could change the minds of citizens who are critical of an illiberal leader. To adjudicate between these accounts, this project will a) develop a novel framework for studying the effects of illiberal manipulation strategies and will examine the effects of multiple manipulation attempts, such as b) hostile rhetoric, c) political misinformation campaigns, and d) populist appeals to fairness intuitions. The project builds on an interdisciplinary framework bridging insights from comparative politics and psychological science, and will employ a diverse set of methodological tools from multiple survey experiments (vignette, conjoint, and cultural transmission designs) as well as quantitative text analysis. Original comparative survey data from Hungary, the US, and Denmark will be used to compare citizens' susceptibility to manipulation under different political environments. The project contributes to the European Commission's priority of ""a new push for European democracy"" by informing pro-democracy stakeholders and citizens on the perils of illiberal citizen manipulation."Status
SIGNEDCall topic
HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-04-01Update Date
31-10-2023
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