‘We are not corrupt, they are biased’: epistemic propaganda and corruption perceptions in Turkey

Abstract

Speaker: Digdem Soyaltin Colella, University of Aberdeen Moderator: Emanuela Ceva, University of Geneva. How does authoritarian propaganda shape public perceptions of corruption? Drawing on a pre‑registered survey experiment with 4,009 respondents in Turkey, a rare case where citizens perceive markedly less corruption than experts do, despite the country's well‑documented democratic backsliding and sharply increasing corruption levels, this research examines how authoritarian regimes manipulate corruption perceptions by discrediting the experts and institutions as established epistemic authorities that measure it. Rather than disputing evidence directly, incumbents portray international indices, such as Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), as politically motivated and biased against the regime. The findings show that this strategy, unlike simply presenting factual information, reduces perceived corruption and improves evaluations of the government’s anti‑corruption performance, with effects concentrated almost entirely among regime supporters. The results reveal how epistemic propaganda undermines inconvenient findings without necessarily eroding trust in expertise more broadly, with important implications for international institutions communicating evidence in politically contested environments.