This collection of state-of-the-art essays explores conspiracy
cultures in post-socialist Eastern Europe, ranging from the
nineteenth century to contemporary manifestations. Conspiracy
theories about Freemasons, Communists and Jews, about the Chernobyl
disaster, and about George Soros and the globalist elite have been
particularly influential in Eastern Europe, but they have also been
among the most prominent worldwide. This volume explores such
conspiracy theories in the context of local Eastern European
histories and discourses. The chapters identify four major factors
that have influenced cultures of conspiracy in Eastern Europe:
nationalism (including ethnocentrism and antisemitism), the
socialist past, the transition period, and globalization. The
research focuses on the impact of imperial legacies,
nation-building, and the Cold War in the creation of conspiracy
theories in Eastern Europe; the effects of the fall of the Iron
Curtain and conspiracism in a new democratic setting; and
manifestations of viral conspiracy theories in contemporary Eastern
Europe and their worldwide circulation with the global rise of
populism. Bringing together a diverse landscape of Eastern European
conspiracism that is a result of repeated exchange with the "West,"
the book includes case studies that examine the history, legacy,
and impact of conspiracy cultures of Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary,
Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, the former
Yugoslav countries, and the former Soviet Union. The book will
appeal to scholars and students of conspiracy theories, as well as
those in the areas of political science, area studies, media
studies, cultural studies, psychology, philosophy, and history,
among others. Politicians, educators, and journalists will find
this book a useful resource in countering disinformation in and
about the region.
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