Political Denialism: conceptualization and discussion

Drawing on some of the current debates about information disorders, radicalization of political views, and lack of trust in democratic politics, our work looks at the uses and debates in extant literature around the concept of denialism and investigates how denialism intersects with key related concepts, such as disinformation, conspiracy thinking, and populism. We propose the conceptualization of political denialism, explaining its relevance in light of recent events and changes in politics and society. We posit that contexts with lack of trust and pervasive erosion of institutional authority and of established sources of knowledge, in which the belief in alternative sources of information is common and often promoted in new media environments, are particularly conducive to the emergence and spread of political denialism.