Fellow (ehemalig)

Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada)

Research project title:
Practices of Promoting Democratic Media: Paradoxes of Legitimacy and Institution Building in the Disinformation Era

Abstract
Is online disinformation an existential threat to global democracy? Is it a symptom of corporate media concentration, or is it just a new iteration of an ever-present feature of political communication? Whatever the answer, scholarly debates about ‘fake news’, disinformation and media manipulation have reached a fever pitch. Recent scholarship has focused on coordinated disinformation campaigns targeting the United States and the United Kingdom, partly in reaction to the 2016 Brexit referendum and the US Presidential election, but this research project argues that fake news is a smaller part of a much larger story. Since the Cold War era, Western democracies have waged global information campaigns extolling the virtues of free elections, free markets and free media. Governments in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom eventually institutionalized these campaigns in the form of organizations promoting and assisting the development of democratic institutions around the world. Now these democracy promotion organizations are facing a crisis as networks of authoritarian governments, far-right political parties, internet trolls and social media personalities have leveraged popular social media platforms to undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions. This research project looks at how formal democracy promotion organizations work to counter anti-democratic narratives by mobilizing international aid in the service of developing “independent media.” While attempting to bolster liberal narratives of free expression, this top-down approach to countering grassroots social media campaigns reveals the limitations of focusing on liberal norms grounded in the rule-of-law and institutional legitimacy in an media environment dominated by questions of personal credibility. Of course, democracy promotion organizations have, for decades, sidestepped questions about their own credibility by developing a form of expert knowledge about building legitimate institutions.
The research question guiding this project therefore asks: how do professionals in Western democracy organizations counter disinformation in practical terms? I view the project through a practice theory lens that assumes everyday organizational practices can provide unique explanations for complex social phenomena. This perspective builds on growing interest in practice theory in the fields of International Relations and Political Sociology, and I believe that these insights can greatly benefit current debates about disinformation and post-truth politics, which have primarily been taken up by communications scholars. While the specter of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns is a growing concern, there remains a dearth of literature exploring the relationship between disinformation, public discourse and democracy promotion. Developing a better understanding of disinformation is worthwhile in itself, but exploring this relationship also fills an important gap in our knowledge about the ways underlying norms of democratic discourse are being reimagined in the social media age.

  • Biografische Angaben

    Michael Christensen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at York University’s Global Digital Citizenship Lab and he held a research fellowship with the Democratic Resource Center at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC. His academic interests are in the fields of democracy and human rights, international aid organizations, science and expert knowledge and digital media. His current research focuses on emerging forms of expertise and democratic debate mediated through digital technologies, with a special emphasis on the social, political and legal implications of disinformation.

  • Publikationen

    Christensen (2017) “Interpreting the Organizational Practices of North American Democracy Assistance” International Political Sociology, 11(2): 148-165.

    Christensen (2017) “A Critical Sociology of International Expertise: The Case of International Democracy Assistance,” in Kurasawa (ed.) Interrogating the Social – A Critical Sociology for the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan

    Christensen (2015) “Re-establishing ‘the social’ in research on democratic processes: Mid-century voter studies and Paul F. Lazarsfeld’s alternative vision,” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 51(3): 308-332

    Christensen (2013) “The Social Facts of Democracy: Science meets politics with Mosca, Pareto, Michels & Schumpeter,” Journal of Classical Sociology, 13(4): 460-486

Neuigkeiten aus dem Forschungsinstitut

Veranstaltung
16.06.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Trump and the Assault on the State

Vortrag

Vortrag von Jeffrey Kopstein Professor der Politikwissenschaft an der University of California, Irvine) über die Gefahr einer Erosion des Staates und Wege gegen den Trend zur Zerstörung.

weitere Infos ›
News
19.05.2025

Was kann eine barocke Tapisserie über koloniale Ikonographie erzählen?

Vortrag von Cécile Fromone am 21. Mai. Die Professorin am Department of the History of Art and Architecture der Harvard University sowie Direktorin der Cooper Gallery am Hutchins Center und Autorin wird über lange vergessene afrikanische Ursprünge der Ikonographie und deren koloniale Dimension referieren.

weitere Infos ›
Veranstaltung
10.06.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Polizeipraxis zwischen staatlichem Auftrag und öffentlicher Kritik.

Ringvorlesungen

Vortrag von Astrid Jacobsen (IKRIS / Polizeiakademie Niedersachsen) über Herausforderungen, Bewältigungsstrategien und Risikokonstellationen im Kontext von polizeilichem Rassismus

weitere Infos ›
News
05.05.2025

Normative Orders Newsletter 01/25 erschienen

Der Newsletter aus dem Forschungszentrum Normative Ordnungen versammelt mehrmals im Jahr Informationen über aktuelle Veranstaltungen, Berichte, Neuigkeiten und Veröffentlichungen. Lesen Sie hier die erste Ausgabe 2025.

weitere Infos ›
News
05.05.2025

„Hitler. Geschichte eines Diktators“ von Sybille Steinbacher erscheint am 15. Mai 2025

Das Buch neue der Historikerin befasst sich mit Hitlers Herkunft, den Wurzeln seines Antisemitismus sowie seinem Aufstieg.

weitere Infos ›
News
29.04.2025

Öffentliche Ringvorlesung „Rassismus in der Polizei“ beginnt am 13. Mai 2025

Rassismus in der Polizei hat verschiedene Dimensionen. In der Ringvorlesung „Rassismus in der Polizei – Empirische Befunde, methodische Herangehensweisen und Kontroversen“ werden drei empirische Studien zur Polizeiarbeit vorgestellt.

weitere Infos ›
Publikation
22.04.2025 | Lexikoneintrag

Edessa (Fourth Century bc to the Eighth Century ad)

Leppin, Hartmut (2025): "Edessa (Fourth Century bc to the Eighth Century ad)". In: Raja, Rubina (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, Oxford Academic, S. 491-506.

weitere Infos ›
News
10.04.2025

Zukunft gestalten – Zwischen Klimawandel, Technologie und gesellschaftlicher Verantwortung

Eine neue Vortragsreihe des Forschungszentrums im Rahmen der Ausstellung „Fixing Futures“ über Implikationen des Klimawandels und technologischen Fortschritts.

weitere Infos ›
This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site.