Project description
Exploring political manipulation, hostile rhetoric and populist appeals
In the perplexing landscape of 21st-century politics, the rise of illiberal leaders has sparked concern and intrigue. Their extensive use of propaganda, grand displays of support and the spread of hostile rumours raises the question: Do these manipulation tactics genuinely sway public opinion? The EU-funded ICMAN project will answer this question by studying hostile rhetoric, political misinformation campaigns and populist appeals to fairness intuitions, and work to decipher their effects on citizens. With an approach that combines insights from comparative politics and psychological science, ICMAN uses a variety of methodological tools and original survey data from Denmark, Hungary and the United States to explore the susceptibility of citizens to manipulation under different political contexts.
Objective
"The widespread popular support for illiberal leaders seeking to subvert democracy is one of the more puzzling and concerning developments in the 21st century. From Putin through Orbán to Erdogan, illiberal leaders invest large resources into propaganda, organize grandiose displays of support, and promote hostile rumours about their enemies. But do such attempts at manipulation shape citizens' support and acceptance of the illiberal leader? Prior research yields conflicting expectations. On the one hand, research in psychology and political behaviour identified a plethora of cognitive biases, which undermine citizens' ability to punish leaders for their mistakes or wrongdoings. On the other hand, recent evidence shows that people are difficult to persuade, making it unlikely that propaganda could change the minds of citizens who are critical of an illiberal leader. To adjudicate between these accounts, this project will a) develop a novel framework for studying the effects of illiberal manipulation strategies and will examine the effects of multiple manipulation attempts, such as b) hostile rhetoric, c) political misinformation campaigns, and d) populist appeals to fairness intuitions. The project builds on an interdisciplinary framework bridging insights from comparative politics and psychological science, and will employ a diverse set of methodological tools from multiple survey experiments (vignette, conjoint, and cultural transmission designs) as well as quantitative text analysis. Original comparative survey data from Hungary, the US, and Denmark will be used to compare citizens' susceptibility to manipulation under different political environments. The project contributes to the European Commission's priority of ""a new push for European democracy"" by informing pro-democracy stakeholders and citizens on the perils of illiberal citizen manipulation."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities languages and literature literature studies literary genres essays
- social sciences political sciences government systems democracy
- social sciences psychology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.4.1 - Widening participation and spreading excellence
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.4.1.5 - Fostering brain circulation of researchers and excellence initiatives
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-04
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1051 Budapest
Hungary
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.