1st Edition
Populism and Conspiracy Theory Case Studies and Theoretical Perspectives
This book explores the close connections between populism and conspiracy theory.
Populism and Conspiracy Theory contributes to filling the gap in the research in this area. The individual contributions in Part I provide in-depth analyses of specific configurations of populism and conspiracy theory. Part II includes nuanced considerations of more theoretical issues. The case studies cover both right-wing and left-wing manifestations of populism, while highlighting that populist movements often cut across the traditional left-right divide. Chapters focus on the twenty-first century and the first half of the twentieth century, as well as the impact of history and memory on contemporary discourses. Geographically, the case studies consider the Americas as well as Europe and Northern Africa. Theoretical discussions include the aesthetics and forms of populist conspiracism, or its dependence on new media. The disciplines represented in the volume range from political science and sociology via anthropology and history to linguistics and cultural studies.
It will appeal to those interested in politics, specifically conspiracy theory, populism, democracy, and leadership.
Introduction
Michael Butter
Part I: Case Studies
1. Makers versus Getters: Productivism in Henry Ford’s The International Jew
Adam John Koper
2. Anticommunism and Conspiracy Myths in Brazil: From the 1937 “Cohen Plan” to the Bolsonarist “Red Menace”
Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta
3. The Weaponization of Conspiracy Theories
Eirikur Bergmann
4. Populism and Conspiracism in Croatia and Their Articulations among Citizens from Left to Right
Nebojša Blanuša
5. “We are the Olive Trees”—Conspiracism and Environmentalism in Southern Italy: The Case of Xylella Fastidiosa
Giovanna Parmigiani
6. Populism and Conspiracy Thinking in the Aufstehen-Movement
Leo Roepert
7. “The Invention of a Pandemic”—Conspiracist Argumentation in the German Alternative Newspaper Demokratischer Widerstand
Nina Pilz
8. Left-Wing Populist-Conspiracism: The Case of Tunisia
Tarek Kahlaoui
9. Conspiracy Theory and the Muslim Brotherhood in Post-Revolutionary Egypt: A Left-Right Convergence?
Helen Murphey
10. Conspiratorial Tropes in Rodrigo Duterte’s Populistic Rhetoric
Franciszek Czech
Part II: Theoretical Perspectives
11. Marxismo Cultural/Cultural Marxism: Transnational Conspiracy Theories and the Brazilian New Right
Andrew Woods
12. On the Elective Affinity between Post-Marxism, Left-Wing Populism, and Conspiracist World Views
Helge Petersen and Hannah Hecker
13. A New Poetic of Conspiracism? Conspiracy Theory in a Time of Post-Narrative Politics
Sebastian M. Herrmann
14. New Media’s Conspiratorial Affordances: An Ecology of Mind Approach
Letícia Cesarino
15. Haute Baroque Bling: Style, Taste, and Distinction in the Study of Conspiracist Populism
Clare Birchall
16. Studying Conspiracy Theory after the (Current) Rise of Right-Wing Populism
Mark Fenster
Biography
Michael Butter is a professor of American Studies at the University of Tübingen in Germany, co-editor of the Handbook of Conspiracy Theories (Routledge, 2020) and PI of the ERC-funded project “PACT: Populism and Conspiracy Theory.”
Katerina Hatzikidi is a social anthropologist and postdoctoral researcher for the “PACT: Populism and Conspiracy Theory” project.
Constanze Jeitler is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and part of the “PACT: Populism and Conspiracy Theory” research project.
Giacomo Loperfido is a social and political anthropologist and postdoctoral researcher for the “PACT: Populism and Conspiracy Theory” project.
Lili Turza is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and part of the “PACT: Populism and Conspiracy Theory” research project.
