The RECLAIM project addresses the overarching theme of the challenging future of liberal democracy in a presumably postfactual age. In recent years, it has become clear that one of the central challenges facing liberal democracy in the 21st century will be how to address the processes and phenomena that are frequently captured under the rubric of post-truth politics.
New Publication!
Post-Truth Populism: A New Political Paradigm
This open access book analyses the convergence between ‘post-truth’ political culture and the politics of populism. The premise is that there is an intrinsic link between post-truth discourse (referring to mis/disinformation, ‘alternative facts’, ‘fake news’, conspiracy theories and the general distrust of expert knowledge and official sources of information) and the central narrative of populism, which opposes the ‘common sense’ wisdom of ordinary honest people to the ‘expert knowledge’ of duplicitous technocratic elites.
Art Exhibition: Democracy in Frames
Join an exhibition inspired by the question: ‘What does democracy mean to you?’
What is democracy? How does art help it strive? How do we reclaim democracy despite growing threats and lack of trust?
The exhibition, held on 13-14 April at Talk C.E.C in Brussels, will showcase the art of several artists. Their art shows the resilience, inventiveness and humour of people facing crises, demonstrating they have the skills necessary to face multiple contradictory narratives and reclaim liberal democracy in the post-factual age.
Can Liberal Democracy be Reclaimed? Regulation & Journalism in the Postfactual Age
Wednesday 13 March 2024, Worklounge Prikopy in Prague
This conference marks the mid-point of the RECLAIM project. The conference draws attention to two key aspects of the post-truth challenge: the need for high-quality journalism in liberal democracy and the role that regulation can play in ameliorating the post-truth challenge. Key researchers from the project will give an overview of their work in these areas and present the first findings from their empirical analyses.
Open for applications: Postdoctoral position in political science with a focus on borders and/border policies
One full-time postdoctoral researcher position at the Institute of International Affairs, University of Iceland is open for applications. The researcher will join the team of the RECLAIM project, specifically the project´s work package on borders and identities in post-truth politics.
RECLAIM Visual Art Awards - Call for submissions!
What is democracy? Why is it important? And how does it affect our lives? We want to explore these questions and more, and we want to hear from you! But don’t just tell us – SHOW US – by submitting your art to “Democracy in Frames”.
Meet the RECLAIM project!
In this video, Prof. Maximilian Conrad explains the new RECLAIM project. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a set of processes and phenomena that are frequently referred to as post-truth politics and which constitute a fundamental challenge, potentially even an existential threat, to liberal democracy as we have come to understand it. Under the title “Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in the Postfactual Age” (RECLAIM).
RECLAIM - Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in the Postfactual Age
The Reclaim Project had its Kick off conference in Reykjavík on Friday 14 October 2022 in Veröld - House of Vigdís. The conference focused on the challenges caused by external factors and disruptive technologies while also examining the role that citizenship education and media literacy can play in mitigating the challenges to liberal democracy.
Academic Publications
Polarisation, News Consumption, and Beliefs in Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories: Early Signs of the Fragmentation of the Public Sphere in Iceland
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Authors: Jón Gunnar Ólafsson & Valgerður Jóhannsdóttir
A common explanation linked to increased polarisation has focused on changes in citizens’ information diets, with like-minded people apparently becoming increasingly isolated in online echo chambers. This article investigates whether news audience polarisation has increased …
Exploring affective Polarisation of the (Digital) Public Sphere in Slovenia: The Case of Marshal Twito
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Authors: Melika Mahmutović & Marko Lovec
The last decade saw the issue of polarisation garnering increased scholarly attention. While political polarisation has been almost unequivocally studied as synonymous with ideological polarisation, scholars have recently addressed polarisation along partisan lines manifesting through strong …
Does the Centre Hold? Public Sphere Configuration, Democracy, and the Quality of Political Talk in Sweden
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Author: Peter Strandbrink
In the present article, key conceptual and regulative requirements for quality public democratic talk to be maintained are identified and the linguistic economy of civic conversation about common affairs in the Swedish public sphere gauged; the relationship between public …
Fragmented and Polarised? The German Public Sphere during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Author: Maximilian Conrad
The digital age has brought about fundamental questions about the viability of the public sphere. While a shared and inclusive communicative space is widely considered to be a fundamental requirement for democratic deliberation, the rise of social (and other …
What Is the EU’s Vision of Democracy in the Post-Truth Scenario? A Conceptual Analysis of the Institutional Narratives of the Public Sphere in the “Democracy Action Plan”
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Authors: Elena García-Guitián, Luis Bouza & Taru Haapala
Contributing to recent academic and public debates on how European democracies should respond to a scenario of “post-truth politics”, this article explores the idea of democracy that underlies current regulatory responses in the “European …
Not About Facts, but Emotions? Political Polarisation as a Problem of Redescription
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Author: Jeremias Schledorn
Political polarisation, e.g. following the refugee movements of 2015 or the Covid pandemic, is often explained by emotions. The latter are widely exploited as a political strategy, while points of view are often discredited as based on mere emotion …
Fugitive Truth: Renewing the Public Sphere in the Age of Post-Truth
Project: RECLAIM
Special Issue: Javnost - The Public
Author: Saul Newman
In the sixty years since the publication of Jürgen Habermas' magnum opus, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, the public sphere now faces a new threat in the era of “post-truth” politics. The preponderance of lies, mis/disinformation, “fake …
Civil society coalitions in the EU media regulation: when field theory meets network analysis
Project: RECLAIM
Authors: Luis Bouza, Juan Roch and Álvaro Oleart
The field of Eurocracy has increasingly been shaped by the emergence of actors lobbying on the area of digital regulation, which has heavily increased during the Von der Leyen Commission. We study the extra-institutional actor networks that have been involved …
Reports
Report: RECLAIM Breakfast Roundtable
Democracy through policy dialogue
This closed-door event aimed to facilitate a constructive and interactive dialogue between policy-makers and project researchers. Designed to connect RECLAIM's academic findings with practical policy needs, the event fostered open, small-group roundtable discussions.
Report of Midterm Conference
The RECLAIM midterm conference, hosted on 13 March 2024 by IIR Prague, focused on the role of journalism and regulation in addressing post-truth politics and reclaiming liberal democracy. Recording from the conference can be found on the RECLAIM website, reclaim.hi.is.
Report of Belgian Pre-Presidency Panel, November 2023
Report from the RECLAIM panel "Building Democratic Resilience in Europe" at TEPSA's Belgian Pre-Presidency conference in November 2023.
Report: Pre-Presidency Conference 2023
Panel at TEPSA’s Spanish Pre-Presidency Conference “Reclaiming Public Debates as an EU Response to Post Truth Challenges: Deliberation, quality information and citizen education”, Madrid, 1 June 2023
Report: Pre-Presidency Conference 2022
Panel at TEPSA’s Swedish Pre-Presidency Conference “The Future of the Union and its Fundamental Values”, Stockholm 1 December 2022
Report: RECLAIM Kick-Off Conference
The following report summarizes the main themes and discussions of the RECLAIM kick-off conference in Reykjavík.
Video Explainers
Fragmented identities: What impact on everyday life? Karolina Czerska-Shaw, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland
Are there fundamental values that underpin liberal democracy? How are identity narratives weaponised against them? Do these narratives ever translate into real-life policy challenges? What new ways are there of fostering unity in the face of divisive rhetoric?
In this Video Explainer, Karolina Czerska-Shaw, Assistant Professor at the Institute of …
How are new technologies used to disinform? Senior Researcher Nikola Schmidt, IIR - Institute of International Relations, Prague
What are disruptive technologies? How do they affect our political cultures? In what ways can these technologies empower citizens? What regulatory framework would allow for an ethical development of new technologies?
In this Video Explainer, Nikola Schmidt, Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, explains the threats …
How does political participation uphold democracy? Professor Elena García Guitián, UAM - La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
In what ways can we participate in politics? How does participation contribute to the functioning of a democratic system? Do digital technologies enhance or undermine democracy? What role does freedom of speech play in the health of a democratic system?
In this Video Explainer, Elena García Guitián, Full Professor of …
POPULISM, POLARISATION, POST-TRUTH: What are they? Why are they a threat? Prof. Maximilian Conrad, University of Iceland
What is post-truth politics and why is it a threat? How does post-truth politics interact with populism? Does post-truth politics play a role in political polarisation?
In this Video Explainer, Maximilian Conrad, Professor of Political Science at the University of Iceland and Project Leader of RECLAIM, explains the differences and …
What is the EU doing to Protect Liberal Democracy? Luis Bouza García, UAM - La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
How effective are EU level instruments in supporting liberal democracy? Is the EU too slow or ineffective in responding to the challenges of post-truth politics? What is the response of liberal democracies to the undermining effects of post-truth politics? Is the current structure of the EU helps or hinders the …
What is Citizen Education and Why is it Important? Nicoletta Pirozzi, IAI - Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome
What is citizenship education and what is its role in countering post-truth politics? What is the EU doing to promote citizenship education, and what instruments has it set up to identify and respond to disinformation? Finally, what is the role of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok in …
Meet the RECLAIM project! Maximilian Conrad, University of Iceland
In this video, Prof. Maximilian Conrad explains the new RECLAIM project. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a set of processes and phenomena that are frequently referred to as post-truth politics and which constitute a fundamental challenge, potentially even an existential threat, to liberal democracy as we have come …
Conferences
Can Liberal Democracy be Reclaimed? Regulation & Journalism in the Postfactual Age
Recording from the RECLAIM mid-term conference that was hosted by the Institute of International Relations in Prague (IIR), Wednesday 13 March 2024 in Worklounge Prikopy, Prague.
This conference marked the mid-point of the RECLAIM project. The conference drew attention to two key aspects of the post-truth challenge: the need for …
Reclaiming Public Debate as an EU Response to Post-Truth Challenges
To scrutinise the priorities and challenges of the incoming Spanish Presidency, TEPSA and its Spanish Member Institute, the Elcano Royal Institute, hosted the Spanish Pre-Presidency Conference on 1 and 2 June 2023 in Madrid.
The RECLAIM project supported a panel for the Spanish PPC titled "Reclaiming Public Debate as an …
The Future of the Union and its Fundamental Values
In the context of the 2022 TEPSA Swedish Pre-Presidency Conference, the RECLAIM project supported a panel to discuss “The Future of the Union and its Fundamental Values”, which took place as a parallel session of the conference between on 1 December 2022.
Speakers:
Maximilian Conrad, Professor, University of Iceland, …
Reclaim Kick-off Conference
The RECLAIM Kick-off conference took place in Reykjavík on October 14 and marked the start of the RECLAIM project. Under the title “Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in the Postfactual Age” and funded by a Horizon Europe grant, the project addresses the impact of disinformation on liberal democracies in Europe. The main …
Podcast
Episode 3 - Navigating the Digital Whirlpool: The Struggle Over the EU's DSA
The Digital Services Act, the EU’s digital regulation master stone, is designed with the intention of tackling content affecting democratic political debate without limiting free speech. But things get more complicated when it comes to so-called “harmful content” or “disinformation”: the line between keeping people safe and stifling free speech …
Episode 2 - Protecting EU elections from what exactly?
"Democracy Dies in Darkness" is a motto adopted by the US newspaper The Washington Post in 2017. Does democracy need to be defended in the era of post-truth politics? How, from what or whom? Does the debate on the protection from post-truth phenomena deviate attention from other major problems democracies …
Episode 1 - What's Actually True About 'Post-Truth'?
Do we really live in a "post-truth" era? Can liberal democracy be reclaimed from polarised and epistemically disputed debates? This episode discusses possible responses by EU institutions and member states via civic education, platform regulation and political narratives.
Guest editor: Maximilian Conrad (University of Iceland)
Guests: Karolina Czerska-Shaw (Jagellonian University …
Post Truth be Told - Trailer
A monthly podcast examining the effects of post-truth politics on contemporary societies. The podcast will share and discuss the results of RECLAIM, a Horizon Europe research project that studies the impact of the information disorder on liberal democracies as we have come to understand them in order to advise on …