Conclusions: The Politics of Misinformation

Abstract

Populist actors in politics often position themselves as the true defenders of the people, heroically standing against both the external threat and the domestic elite. This has proven to be a very powerful rhetorical construction. One feature of this process is in casting opponents as enemies of the people, rather than merely being political adversaries. This has moved the political rhetoric towards a more militant direction than before. A wedge of distrust is cast between different groups in society. This, for example, occurs by a process of de-humanization, as is explored here. Populist conspiracy theories (CT) can, as result, come to erode trust in society. They have been found to be a catalyst for radicalization and extremism.In this concluding chapter, Bergmann ties together the discussion from the previous chapters and and analyses how populists use CTs to advance their politics.