Political Logics of Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theory, which claims that the course of history is determined by the secret actions of a small group of men bent on world domination, has been widely circulated since the late 18th century. Representing a modern form of the idea of a secularized Providence, this theory, whose persuasive rhetoric employs modes of apparently scientific deduction, is essentially a political discourse. The spreading of such theories of a global conspiracy can therefore be analyzed from the perspective of political sociology, in looking especially at the ways that the theories are used, the actors that voice them and their aims in terms of mobilization. Conspiracy theory thus appears as much a cognitive resource as a means of politicization. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, whether conspiracy theory attempts to deny the “official version” of the September 11 attacks or warns against France’s national vaccination campaign to combat the H1N1 virus, which it sees as a means of achieving “biopower”, its primary aim is to influence the political agenda.