This paper examines the relationship between policy compliance, the emergence of alternate epistemes and authorities in online spaces, and the decline of trust and legitimacy in democratic institutions. Drawing on insights from public policy, regulation theory, and political theory, the paper critically engages with scholarship on “policy-takers” to illuminate the tensions of compliance and legitimacy in liberal states. It proposes a compliance–legitimacy matrix that identifies the features of policy compliance—including consent, legitimacy, expertise, and trust—and their relationship to the disaggregation of policy knowledge. The article applies this framework to a case study of social media posts that respond to policy information during the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia. Through analysis of these posts, the study reveals the distrust in “the science” and experts advocated by government and the calls from skeptic groups for noncompliance with public health measures. The paper argues that public policy faces an epistemic crisis of public confidence, with significant downstream consequences for compliance with public policy initiatives that has been brought on both by the failures of states to cultivate trust in science and the government. The compliance–legitimacy matrix offers a useful tool for policymakers to anticipate and address objections from policy-takers and to preempt and diffuse their fears.

中文翻译：

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“我不同意”：澳大利亚 Covid-19 政策应对中的政治合法性、错误信息和合规挑战

本文探讨了政策遵守、网络空间中替代认识和权威的出现以及民主机构中信任和合法性的下降之间的关系。本文借鉴公共政策、监管理论和政治理论的见解，批判性地结合有关“政策接受者”的学术研究，阐明自由国家中合规性与合法性之间的紧张关系。它提出了一个合规性-合法性矩阵，用于识别政策合规性的特征——包括同意、合法性、专业知识和信任——以及它们与政策知识分解的关系。本文将此框架应用于澳大利亚 Covid-19 大流行管理期间对政策信息做出反应的社交媒体帖子的案例研究。通过对这些帖子的分析，该研究揭示了对政府倡导的“科学”和专家的不信任，以及怀疑团体对不遵守公共卫生措施的呼吁。该论文认为，公共政策面临着公众信心的认知危机，由于国家未能培养对科学和政府的信任，从而对遵守公共政策举措产生了重大的下游后果。合规性-合法性矩阵为政策制定者提供了一个有用的工具，可以预测和解决政策制定者的反对意见，并预防和消除他们的恐惧。由于国家未能培养对科学和政府的信任，对遵守公共政策举措产生了重大的下游影响。合规性-合法性矩阵为政策制定者提供了一个有用的工具，可以预测和解决政策制定者的反对意见，并预防和消除他们的恐惧。由于国家未能培养对科学和政府的信任，对遵守公共政策举措产生了重大的下游影响。合规性-合法性矩阵为政策制定者提供了一个有用的工具，可以预测和解决政策制定者的反对意见，并预防和消除他们的恐惧。