Democracy and the Corruption of Speech
| Published date | 01 May 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231159784 |
| Author | Mark E Warren |
| Date | 01 May 2024 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231159784
Political Studies Review
2024, Vol. 22(2) 289 –297
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299231159784
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Democracy and the
Corruption of Speech
Mark E Warren
Abstract
In the developed democracies, the public discourse of political corruption and conspiracy remains
stubbornly pervasive, in spite of the fact that these countries are, comparatively, the cleanest in the
world. Everyday talk about corruption expresses a politics of distrust and disaffection, corrodes
deliberative responses to political conflict and – most alarmingly – can be mobilized by populist
authoritarians who would replace democratic institutions with decisionism. The phenomenon that
Rosenblum and Muirhead call ‘the new conspiracism’ – assertions of conspiracies without evidence
or even claims that could be refuted – is deepening the discourse of corruption, particularly
in the United States. These discourses are expressive rather than discursive: they cannot be
refuted because they signal fears and discontents rather than positions within public arguments.
Because democracies only work when they channel political conflict into credible speech, these
developments corrode the life-blood of democracies. A key problem for democrats today is to
diagnose this pathology, identify powers of speech and devise responses that might protect the
common pool resource of promise and commitment in speech-based politics.
Keywords
corruption, conspiracy theories, democratic theory, democracy, deliberative democracy
Accepted: 2 February 2023
In the developed democracies, the public discourse of political corruption and conspiracy
is stubbornly pervasive and increasing, in spite of the fact that these countries are, com-
paratively, the cleanest in the world. In these countries, everyday talk about corruption
expresses a politics of distrust and disaffection, corrodes deliberative responses to political
conflict and – most alarmingly – can be mobilized by populist authoritarians who would
replace democratic institutions with decisionism (Warren, 2017). The phenomenon that
Rosenblum and Muirhead (2020) call ‘the new conspiracism’ – assertions of conspiracies
that are purely expressive while lacking the theory and selective evidence typical of
‘classical conspiracism’ – is deepening the discourse of corruption. The new conspiracism
is most notable in the United States with the rise of Trumpism, but alarmingly present in
other democracies, often coordinated by a global far-right movement. These discourses
Department of Political Science, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, USA
Corresponding author:
Mark E Warren, Department of Political Science, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC,
Canada V6N2H7, USA.
Email: warrenme@mail.ubc.ca
1159784PSW0010.1177/14789299231159784Political Studies ReviewWarren
research-article2023
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