Fake News, Disinformation and Manipulation

The point of departure of this paper is that we may discuss the fake news, disinformation and manipulation challenge under two quite different headings: as a range of actor-generated instances or as a matter of changing structural conditions. The former refers for instance to the rise of a particular species of populist politician marked by a distinct style and relatively unencumbered by conventional party politics. The latter refers to the emergence of new media forms but also by altered policy – politics constellations. With that, I mean that in a well-functioning democracy politics is understood and conducted in such a manner as to serve policy making and conflict handling. The argument I will present posits that a combination of factors associated with globalization, the rise of cartel parties, the social dislocation of parties and a host of other factors has generated a new constellation marked by ‘policy without politics’ and ‘politics without policy’. In such a circumstance we see that each pair gets associated with a distinct set of institutional arrangements and forums; the former policy without politics is characteristic for instance of the EEA agreement which is about incorporating EU policy measures largely without discussion. The latter politics without policy reflects how political actors – often associated with populist politics – conduct and enact a mode of (symbolic) politics that does not engage with policy substance. The fact that the two are not made to meet up in meaningful ways, entail that each unfolds without the requisite corrective mechanisms. The situation is thus rife for actors to pursue a mode of politics saturated by fake news, disinformation and manipulation.