Month/Year of Graduation
5-2025
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Dr. Sally Bonsall
Abstract
Academic scholarship on populism in the digital age, thus far, has focused heavily on radicalization, social reorganization, and other ways the internet and social media facilitate the rise of populist movements, rather than the impacts of the internet on the actual desires of the citizenry. In this theoretical piece, I argue that modern populists engage in a contract with their supporters to create an “entertaining” political environment closely mimicking online dynamics. Next, I use the lens of hyperstition, a concept devised by the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, to explain the means by which the patterns of human interaction found more frequently online enter “real life” politics to make themselves “real”. Finally, I propose that the global geopolitical climate is undergoing a sorting between populist and anti-populist states that will facilitate the realization of populist visions of international relations.
Recommended Citation
Summerfield, Rayna, "Despair Against Boredom: Hyperstitional Narrativization in the International Relations of Populist States" (2025). Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects. 356.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/university_honors_program/356
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.