‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’: Anonymity, Accountability, Information

• In Event: Political Theory in/ and/ as Political Science: Democracy in Theory and Practice

Abstract

While scholars of public opinion have studied the effects of misinformation and disinformation on voter behavior, the growing influence of platforms like WikiLeaks in contemporary politics has raised normative questions about whether even accurate information ought to be managed as a public good - particularly when it stems from anonymous sources. Yet, political theorists have not critically examined the legitimacy of such information for public, democratic use.
We initiate this examination through a comparative analysis of the Pentagon Papers and Wiki Leaks, and draw two conclusions regarding the utility of such material for democratic politics: First, anonymously-sourced information is democratically valuable when and where certain processes of accountability are triggered. Those processes must operate internally (between the actors involved in the sourcing and dissemination of information),and externally (between the actors and the public). Second, information must be at least 'minimally curated,' meaning that platforms which disseminate anonymously-sourced information must do the work of contextualizing its significance for purposes of public deliberation.

Authors

• Menaka M. Philips, Tulane University

• Jennifer Forestal, Stockton University