2023/01/31 by Gregory Michener · 2 citations
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Populism, Right-Wing Movements
paper · doi:10.1177/00953997221147227
openalex publication_date 2023/01/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This article theorizes and analyzes the relationship between populist leaders and government transparency. Employing a paired comparison of leaders in Brazil and the United States before and during the pandemic, it illuminates three interlocking tactics: (a) the weakening of transparency institutions, (b) erasure and suppression of transparency, and (c) corruption of transparency via misuse and misinformation. Populist efforts to subvert pandemic transparency elicited a striking response in both countries: the emergence of “compensatory transparency initiatives” (CTIs). By collating and disclosing subnational pandemic data to fill transparency gaps at the federal level, CTIs drew attention to populist failings.