Democratic backsliding has become a central concern in contemporary political life. While much of the debate has focused on institutional change, executive aggrandizement, the weakening of checks and balances, and the erosion of democratic norms, these transformations also involve processes of political communication through which power is justified, contested, and legitimized.
This panel examines the role of political communication in processes of democratic backsliding, with particular attention to the ways political actors construct and dispute legitimacy. Rather than treating communication merely as a reflection of institutional change, the panel approaches it as a constitutive dimension of contemporary struggles over democracy. Political leaders and governments may invoke electoral mandates, popular sovereignty, crisis, representation, or political polarization to justify transformations in the exercise of power. At the same time, opposition parties, journalists, civil society organizations, social movements, and citizens develop competing narratives about democracy, authority, accountability, and legitimate government.
The panel welcomes theoretical, empirical, and comparative contributions examining how democratic erosion is communicated, normalized, challenged, or resisted. Relevant topics may include political discourse and rhetoric; populist and authoritarian communication; executive communication; polarization; disinformation and information manipulation; political communication through digital platforms; media-state relations; attacks on democratic institutions and intermediaries; communication strategies of opposition and civil society; and the construction of political legitimacy in contexts of institutional transformation.
Contributions from different regional contexts and political systems are particularly encouraged, as are studies employing diverse methodological approaches. By bringing political communication into dialogue with the study of democratic backsliding, the panel seeks to deepen our understanding of how changes in democratic institutions are accompanied by struggles over their meaning, justification, and legitimacy.