New Weapons of Democratic Destruction

Edited by Stephen Harrington, Timothy Graham, Ella Chorazy, and Aljosha Karim Schapals

Deadline for Abstracts: 1-15 June 2026 | Deadline for Articles: 15-30 October 2026

Media and Communication, peer-reviewed journal indexed in the Web of Science (Impact Factor: 2.6) and Scopus (CiteScore: 5.9), welcomes article proposals for its upcoming issue “New Weapons of Democratic Destruction,” edited by Stephen Harrington (Queensland University of Technology), Timothy Graham (Queensland University of Technology), Ella Chorazy (Queensland University of Technology), and Aljosha Karim Schapals (Queensland University of Technology).

Over the past decade, emergent technologies have opened new avenues for political actors to shape public opinion, discredit rivals, and gain advantage—often by subverting established norms of political communication. This thematic issue brings together global scholars to explore how technological affordances are exploited to undermine political institutions, destabilise liberal democracy, and promote nativism, racism, and authoritarianism. By investigating these strategic communication tactics, we aim to identify the roots of political dysfunction and build resilience against these threats.

Topics of interest include:

  • Strategic political communication in the attention economy, such as micro-targeting;
  • How “culture war” topics and/or polarisation discourses are used to drive anti-democratic or anti-establishment sentiment;
  • The strategic use of disinformation tactics and/or conspiracy theories for political advantage;
  • Use of AI and automation by malign political actors;
  • Media manipulation strategies, such as the relationship between political actors and hyper-partisan media outlets;
  • Efforts to erode public trust in institutions and governance.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are encouraged to read the full call for papers here.

Abstracts welcome by 1-15 June 2026.