User:Patrick4215/sandbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Political deception refers to the deceiving of any person(s) who is or are connected with politics, including both citizens and politicians. [1][2] It involves the utilisation of lies, misinformation, manipulation etc. in political scenarios in order to achieve some form of goal. These goals are usually politically, economically or personally motivated.[3] A historically well-documented aspect of politics, political deception has been both argued for and against. [4] Predominately totalitarian states, such as Iran or Russia, have been documented as actively participating in political deception, where the “cheating of the people”, stated by Bell and Whaley, is seen as a normal political tool.[5] Opposition to this idea can be seen in democratic states, such as The United States of America and other Western countries, which inherently reject the notion of political deception due its in-compliance with the ethical principles of democracy.[6] However, political deception and deceit is still present in democratic political systems, due to their effectiveness in possibly defending the state or maintaining a politician’s or political body’s control of power.[5] This has led political deception to become viewed as an almost unavoidable circumstance, especially when viewed from the increasingly sceptical and politically charged viewpoint of contemporary society.[3]