The Truth is Everywhere: Reconceptualizing Far-Right Conspiracy Theories in the Information Age

Despite the evident association between the political right and conspiracy theories in the United States and Europe, the role of conspiracy theories in right-wing extremist movements is often overlooked by contemporary scholars. What is more, the corpus of conspiracy theory-related literature collectively fails to account for the resurgent popularity of these narratives, with some scholars portraying belief in conspiracy theories as symptoms of an irrational and paranoid worldview, and others arguing that conspiracy theories have been stigmatized and marginalized by academics, elite journalists, and intellectuals. Both of these perspectives, as this paper demonstrates, inaccurately relegate conspiracy theories to the fringes of society. The field of conspiracy theory studies must now turn toward understanding how these narratives shape and interact with ideology, and influence political behavior and acts of violence, a task for which interpretive perspectives are uniquely suited. Consequently, this paper reexamines the contemporary right and its significant association with conspiracy theories in order to provide a new theoretical framework for future research.