Issue Conspiracy narratives as tools of autocratic governments

Summary

The report holds that governments with autocratic tendencies use conspiracy theories as a political instrument. Political scientists call it executive aggrandizement when elected leaders pull institutional power towards themselves, place loyalists in strategic posts and try to dismantle the checks and balances of the rule of law. In the report's assessment, the United States displayed such a pattern over the past year, and at a very high speed. Disinformation and conspiracy theories also serve as arguments for policy measures, and recent US health policy shows the effect of unscientific views on vaccination policy and on healthcare for women. The report warns that the belief in a malicious elite undermining democratic institutions poses a serious risk to the democratic legal order.