2023 APSA Annual Meeting: Rights and Responsibilities in an Age of Mis- and Disinformation

The theme for the 2023 APSA Annual Meeting will focus on our rights and responsibilities–both as citizens and as political science researchers and educators–in a world of mis- and disinformation. Given the potentially pernicious and polarizing effects of mis- and disinformation, how can we conceive of and undertake helpful research and scholarship? More specifically, how can we rethink complex governance structures and grapple with the reality of power dynamics in an accurate and critical way, while taking a diversity of voices, perspectives and methodological approaches into consideration? As mis- and disinformation blur the lines between individuals, governments, and big tech, we stand to see fundamental political circumstances shift. For example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine underscores the changing nature of information on the battlefield; our reliance on satellite technology reveals key vulnerabilities for the future of political communication and how we disseminate “the truth,” but also how we frame, persuade, and argue; and democratic backsliding across the world challenges citizens’ abilities to be empowered with authentic information and veracity in order to protest–another key human right. Political scientists across subfields and methodological orientations need to be a key part of examining these phenomena to provide theoretical and evidence-based insight on the potential impact of dis-information and misinformation upon political behavior, attitudes, institutions and rights and responsibilities in the 21st century.