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.

See Infographich here

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About the project

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.

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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. 

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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.

Registration and further information
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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.

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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”.

More information
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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).

Watch the video here
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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.

Click here for recording
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Academic Publications

Journalists’ responses: Case studies comparative report

Authors of the Report: Jacopo Custodi (SNS), Hans-Joerg Trenz (SNS) and Martin Moland (ARENA)

This report presents and analyses the comparative results of an investigation conducted in late 2023 and early 2024 on journalism and its relationship with the issue of dis/misinformation in 7 different countries – Poland, Norway, Croatia, …

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Post-Truth Populism: A New Political Paradigm

Editors: Saul Newman and Maximilian Conrad

Project: RECLAIM

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 …

See more Download document
Public opinion survey: Country comparative reports and Citizens’ experiments: Data report

Authors: Martin Moland (ARENA), Asimina Michailidou (ARENA), Jacopo Custodi (SNS) and Hans-Jörg Trenz (SNS)

This report begins by presenting country-level responses to questions regarding journalistic characteristics, functions, their perceived importance and fact-checking (D4.3). Subsequently, we present the results of our survey experiment (D4.6).

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The European approach to online disinformation: geopolitical and regulatory dissonance

Authors: Andreu Casero-Ripollés, Jorge Tuñón and Luis Bouza-García

Project: RECLAIM

The COVID-19 health crisis and the invasion of Ukraine have placed disinformation in the focus of European policies. This article aims to analyze the emerging European policy on counter-disinformation practices and regulations. To this end the article examines developing European …

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Regulating Disinformation and Big Tech in the EU: A Research Agenda on the Institutional Strategies, Public Spheres and Analytical Challenges

Authors: Luis Bouza García and Alvaro Oleart

Project: RECLAIM

The growing influence of social media platforms, and the disinformation that circulates in them, has transformed the public spheres. How to deal with disinformation is an open normative, empirical and political question in contemporary democracies. This article, outlines an agenda on …

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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Report: RECLAIM Kick-Off Conference

The following report summarizes the main themes and discussions of the RECLAIM kick-off conference in Reykjavík.

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