Article
Политика и поэтика в теориях заговора
Where conspiracy theory comes from? It is a matter of concern for those who believe in them and those who are highly skeptical. Whether academic studies can explain the origin of this phenomenon? Which questions do the researchers of this phenomenon raise in contemporary situation and how they attempt to solve them?
This article analyses the features of political mythology as a manifestation of the political symbolization’s process. Political symbolization is defined as the phenomenon of unconventional media reaction to the political information presented in a specific form of sign systems. The research reveals the interrelation of political myths with ideology and utopia. The analysis of political myths structure shows the main difficulty that is the ambivalent ideological myth interpretation. The article captures the main functions of political myths. The author refers to technologization and fragmentation of political myths. As a result, the myths receive widespread use, but lose their symbolic impact force. This can be found in modern myths of "conspiracy theory". The conclusion is that the fragments of myths can mimic modern forms of thinking.
This chapter analyzes an anti-Russian conspiratorial discourse within the Ukrainian public sphere in the aftermath of the Euromaidan revolution of 2014. Because it ended with a change of government in Ukraine, the Maidan transformation has provided fertile ground for conspiracy theories of various sorts. However, in contrast to Russian propagandistic constructions, which presented the Maidan as a coup d’etat staged by the West and committed by local neo-Fascists, Ukrainian conspiratorial discourses have not become a popular subject of analysis in academic research. With the aim of contributing to this research area, this chapter discusses how Ukrainian politicians exploit conspiracy theories to incite public fears and shift attention from the internal dimensions of Ukrainian problems to external ones. The case study discussed is the Odessa tragedy that happened on May 2, 2014, when 48 people died as a result of street clashes between two groups of Ukrainians, the opponents and proponents of the Maidan revolution. Using framing analysis, the chapter investigates the coverage of the tragedy by the news programs of three national television networks and Ukraine’s five most popular news websites on May 3 and 4, the two days immediately after the tragedy.
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.
The measurement problem of sensitive questions does not have a universal solution and varies both by topic and by country. It is especially relevant during the crisis when fake information can produce dangerous social consequences. We measured the proportion of those who believe in rumors regarding COVID-19 among Russian students based on the list experiment. We found that 15.6% of students believe in COVID-19 rumors. We found a higher proportion of those using a list experiment than a traditional question. The paper confirms the relevance of using the list experiment in sensitive questions including the questions on belief in rumors.
Within a brief historical period, BRICS as an inter-State association has become an influential player in the world economy and politics. BRICS is a primarily political entity, and in that regard, the BRICS grouping correlates with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). However, not all the expectations placed on the SCO by the founding countries at the time of its creation in 2001 have been met so far. The question is to what extent expectations may be fulfilled in case of BRICS.
The article identifies the effect of personalization of politics: its definition is given, the determinants and possible consequences are considered. That effect is illustrated by some features in the Asian and European style of modern political leadership.