Coopting Language

Legitimation
Coopting language is a state strategy that adopts and redefines democratic and human rights terminology to legitimize authoritarian behavior and neutralize criticism by making repression sound like principle.
Author
Affiliation

E. Rosalie Li

Information Epidemiology Lab

Published

February 17, 2026

Legitimation

Coopting language is a state strategy that adopts and redefines democratic and human rights terminology to legitimize authoritarian behavior and neutralize criticism by making repression sound like principle.

FIMI Taxonomy by Information Epidemiology Lab.

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@article{li2026,
  author = {Li, E. Rosalie},
  title = {Coopting {Language}},
  date = {2026-02-17},
  url = {https://fimi.infoepi.org/mechanisms/coopting-language.html},
  langid = {en}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Li, E. Rosalie. 2026. “Coopting Language,” February. https://fimi.infoepi.org/mechanisms/coopting-language.html.