Systemic Analysis of the Consequences of Unethical Political Marketing in Elections: A Case Study of East Azerbaijan Province

Elections, as a key mechanism of political participation, are continuously shaped by political action and competition. Unethical political marketing, beyond immediate electoral effects, can undermine public trust, social capital, and governance quality through complex, delayed mechanisms. This study provides a systemic analysis of such consequences within East Azerbaijan Province’s electoral context. Using a qualitative approach grounded in soft systems thinking, data were gathered from literature reviews and semi-structured expert interviews, then analyzed via interactive modeling. Findings reveal that deceptive practices—including public misinformation, vote buying, character assassination, exploitation of social divisions, illicit funding, and electoral integrity breaches—are causally interconnected. These behaviors reproduce systemic outcomes such as declining political trust, weakened responsible participation, erosion of ethical norms, and reduced social capital. The comprehensive model illustrates that unethical political marketing is not a set of isolated acts but a self-reinforcing systemic phenomenon. Through feedback loops, it perpetuates itself within the political and social arenas, highlighting the need for holistic interventions that address root causal structures rather than symptomatic symptoms alone.