Framing parties as conspiracies constitutes an attack on democracy itself

Evidence

Among conspiracists’ targets, the assault on political parties is not occasional but incessant, and it aligns with a long-standing American antipathy to parties and partisans. Despite being the defining institution of representative democracy—in the formal political science definition, democracy is a system in which two or more parties compete for the popular vote in free and fair elections—parties and partisanship are commonly maligned. Aversion does not always take the extreme form of claiming that parties are conspiracies, but that is what we have today. This characterization is crucial, for the delegitimation of parties that proceeds by classifying them as conspiracies should be understood as an attack on democracy. Because antipathy toward parties and partisans is commonplace, we don’t as readily spring to their defense today as we do, for example, to the defense of the FBI or CIA against attacks that they harbor conspiracies. To understand why the conspiracist attack on parties is an attack on democracy, we need to understand why parties are critical and irreplaceable democratic institutions. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 191

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to standing literature on democratic backsliding and populist delegitimation of mediating institutions. — connects to: Political conspiracism now targets core democratic processes themselves — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 18; Conspiracism’s core target is democratic disagreement itself, not this or that policy — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 21; New conspiracism attacks democratic institutions outright rather than just rejecting compromise — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 113 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• New conspiracism abandons explanatory theory and targets democratic legitimacy #expands (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 11
• Conspiracist delegitimation rejects the normal cycle of alternating party power #exemplifies (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 208
• Conspiracy beliefs erode democratic participation and breed extremism #expands (0.75) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 287
• Conspiracism functions as a political explanation of hidden power #complicates (0.75) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 1077