Conspiracy Theories in Eastern Europe

This collection of state-of-the-art essays explores conspiracy cultures in post-socialist Eastern Europe, ranging from the nineteenth century to contemporary manifestations.

Autorentext

Anastasiya Astapova is a research fellow at the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

Onoriu Colcel is senior lecturer in English at tefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania.

Corneliu Pintilescu is a researcher at the George Baritiu History Institute (in Cluj-Napoca) of the Romanian Academy.

Tamás Scheibner is assistant professor in literary and cultural studies at the University of Budapest (ELTE), Hungary, and senior research fellow in contemporary history at the Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute of Excellence.

Inhalt

Introduction: Eastern Europe in the Global Traffic of Conspiracy Theories Part I. Conspiracy Culture under Socialism and its Afterlife in Eastern Europe 1. Chernobyl Conspiracy Theories: From American Sabotage to the Biggest Hoax of the Century 2. Stalinist Conspiracy Theories in France and Italy: The Limits of Postwar Communist Conspiracy Culture 3. "By the Order of their Foreign Masters": Soviet Dissidents, Anti-Western Conspiracy, and the Deprivation of Agency Part II. "The Enemy Within": Jews and Freemasons 4. The Myth of a Judeo-Bolshevik Conspiracy in Hungary, Within and Beyond the Far Right 5. An Open Secret: Freemasonry and Justice in Post-Socialist Bulgaria 6. From Judeo-Polonia to Act 447: How and Why Did the Jewish Conspiracy Myth Become a Central Issue in Polish Political Discourse? Part III. After Independence: Nation-building and Victimhood Narratives 7. Dissolution of Yugoslavia as a Conspiracy and its Haunting Returns: Narratives of Internal and External Othering 8. The Dangerous Russian Other in Ukrainian Conspiratorial Discourse: Media Representations of the Odessa Tragedy 9. The Victims, the Guilty, and "Us": Notions of Victimhood in Slovakian Conspiracy Theories Part IV. Eastern Europe Goes Global: Conspiracy Theories and the Rise of Populism 10. Soros Conspiracy Theories and the Rise of Populism in Post-Socialist Hungary and Romania 11. Conspiracy Theories on Moldovan Commercial TV 12. North Macedonia Goes Global: Pro-EU Aspiration and Anti-EU Sentiment as a Basis for EU-related Conspiracy Theories 13. Conspiracy Theory Theory, Epistemology, and Eastern Europe