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In Australia, defending against SLAPPs [Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, a term coined by George Pring and Penelope Canan in SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996)] has to operate differently…
Read more of Brian Martin on the public vaccination controversy in Australia
On the surface, it might seem that a narrative is just a way of describing the practical reality of disease and vaccination. But narratives are more than descriptions: they affect the way people process information,…
To examine this issue, it’s useful to look at the role of expertise in public scientific controversies. Vaccination proponents sometimes say that in order to have any credibility, it’s necessary to have appropriate credentials and…
Read more of Brian Martin on expertise & citizen science in public scientific controversies
When expressing views is risky for some individuals, a general approach for resistance is for public comment to be made by those who are least vulnerable and for those who are most vulnerable to become…
Read more of Brian Martin on resistance in public scientific controversy
Why not engage in debate? If all the evidence supports vaccination, a debate might seem like an ideal opportunity to make the case for vaccinating and to demolish the arguments of the critics. However, there…
Read more of Brian Martin on debate in public scientific controversy
There are boundaries between countries and there are also less tangible boundaries between sets of ideas. One special boundary is between science and non-science. This can also be called a difference or distinction or demarcation.…
Conspiracy theories in a narrower definition are an early modern ‘invention’ or a phenomenon only emerging after the Renaissance, during the confessional age. Two major types of conspiracy theories were evolving at this time: Those…
However, anti-imperialism also assumed a special form and prominent place in the Non-Aligned Movement. This still active global association of countries was established in 1961 as an alternative to the Cold War blocs of the…
This chapter uses Ernesto Laclau’s definition of ‘populism’ as a political logic, rather than a movement attached to a specific political ideology or social base (Laclau 2005: 5). According to this definition, there are two…
Read more of Rosanne Hooper on conspiracy theories in Venezuela
While the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign was the first where digital technology played a significant role (and contestants had dedicated teams for this purpose), it was the very first major political event in which digitally…
Read more of Kiril Avramov, Vasily Gatov and Ilya Yablokov, pledging devotion