COVID-19 has profoundly changed global politics and the wider global political economy in 2020. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of politicians on the far-right of the political spectrum have expressed strong anti-science and anti-expertise sentiment. The most striking examples can be found in liberal democratic governments, particularly in the United States with President Trump, and in Brazil with President Bolsonaro who has repeatedly downplayed the severity of COVID-19. We argue that there are two main strategies that the far-right tend to use in scapegoating experts. The first strategy from the far-right playbook is the “silencing” of critics or experts. The second strategy comprises the “discrediting” of experts.
Bruno, V. A., Downes, J. F., The Right’s War on Science & Experts Escalates Amid COVID-19, in Eviane Leidi, E. L. (ed.), The Radical Right during Crisis. CARR Yearbook 2020/2021, Ibidem Verlag, Stoccarda 2021: 249- 254 [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/219570]
The Right’s War on Science & Experts Escalates Amid COVID-19
Bruno, Valerio Alfonso
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2021
Abstract
COVID-19 has profoundly changed global politics and the wider global political economy in 2020. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of politicians on the far-right of the political spectrum have expressed strong anti-science and anti-expertise sentiment. The most striking examples can be found in liberal democratic governments, particularly in the United States with President Trump, and in Brazil with President Bolsonaro who has repeatedly downplayed the severity of COVID-19. We argue that there are two main strategies that the far-right tend to use in scapegoating experts. The first strategy from the far-right playbook is the “silencing” of critics or experts. The second strategy comprises the “discrediting” of experts.
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