Trust as foundation and endangerment of democracy
Journal: cultura & psyché
Year: 2023

Abstract What are the consequences of lies for democracy? Contrary to a widespread assumption, they often do not lead to a loss of trust in politicians and a crisis of politics, because trust in politics is not primarily directed toward truthfulness. Systematic lying in politics does not necessarily threaten democracy as such, but it threatens specifically deliberative democracy and its procedures of rational opinion- and will-forming. The article starts from the thesis that it is not a general