Conspiracy Theories in the European Digital Sphere

Introduction: Researching Europe, Digitalisation and Conspiracy Theories

Clare Birchall, Nebojša Blanuša, Michael Butter, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, Peter Knight and Mari-Liis Madisson

Part I: Comparative Analyses of Digital Conspiracism in Europe

1. Contextualising European Conspiracism

Clare Birchall, Nebojša Blanuša, Michael Butter, Peter Knight, Elzbieta Drążkiewicz, Pavol Hardoš, Vedran Jerbić, Mari-Liis Madisson, Tatjana Menise, Jasna Milošević, Mara Precoma, Vladimir Turjacanin

2. Mapping Conspiracy Theories in the European Online Information Environment

Peter Knight (lead author), Clare Birchall, Nebojša Blanuša, Michael Butter, Jasna Milošević Đorđević, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, Pavol Hardoš, Vedran Jerbić, Mari-Liis Madisson, Tatjana Menise, Benjamin Pelling, Mara Precoma, Felix Schilk and Vladimir Turjačanin

3. Great Replacement Conspiracy Theories Across Europe

Clare Birchall (lead author), Nebojša Blanuša, Michael Butter, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, Pavol Hardoš, Vedran Jerbić, Peter Knight, Mari-Liis Madisson, Tatjana Menise, Jasna Milošević Đorđević, Mara Precoma and Vladimir Turjačanin

Part II: Regional Case Studies

4. Conspiracy Theories about the War in Ukraine in the ‘Balkan Triangle’: Behindological Reasoning, Mnemonic Geopolitics and Escalation Imaginaries on Facebook

Nebojša Blanuša and Vedran Jerbić

5. From Shorthand Cues to Elaborate Dystopian Reasoning: The Affordances of Orwell’s 1984 in Strategic Online Conspiracy Narratives

Mari-Liis Madisson and Tatjana Menise

6. ‘The Goal Is the Unconditional Abolition of Cash’: German-language Conspiracy Theories about the Ban on Cash and Expropriation

Michael Butter and Mara Precoma

7. None Dare Call It Conspiracy Theory: The Anti-Gender Narratives of The Illiberal Right in Central Europe

Elżbieta Drążkiewicz and Pavol Hardoš

8. Conspiracy Culture Wars: 15-Minute City Conspiracy Theories in the UK

Clare Birchall and Peter Knight

Part III: The Counter-Disinformation Sector in Europe

9. Combatting Conspiracy Theories and Debunking Disinformation in the European Information Environment

Felix Schilk (lead author), Clare Birchall, Nebojša Blanuša, Jasna Milošević Đorđević, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, Pavol Hardoš, Vedran Jerbić, Peter Knight, Mari-Liis Madisson, Tatjana Menise, Vladimir Turjačanin

Conclusion: Conspiracism’s Contexts

Clare Birchall, Nebojša Blanuša, Michael Butter, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, Mari-Liis Madisson and Peter Knight

Biography

Clare Birchall is professor of Contemporary Culture at King’s College London.

Nebojša Blanuša is professor of Social and Political Psychology at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Michael Butter is professor of American Studies at the University of Tübingen and member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Elżbieta Drążkiewicz is associate professor in the Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences at Lund University. She is also an affiliated researcher with the Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Peter Knight is professor of American Studies at the University of Manchester.  

Mari-Liis Madisson is associate professor in Semiotics at the University of Tartu.