Conspiracy theories as a populist instrument in the repression of marginalized groups

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the role of conspiracy theories in populism, particularly the way conspiracy theories amplify the xenophobic messaging of some populist lead-ers. Although conspiracy theories have only recently been associated with this political phenom-enon, historically there have been cases of conspiracy theories having been successfully used as part of populist political strategy. Firstly, the causes of the co-occurrence of populism and conspir-acy theories are studied. Secondly, the interaction between the two phenomena is shown to enhance populist messaging. Next, effectiveness of populist conspiracy theories is then placed in the context of human rights. Finally, the aforementioned mechanisms are illustrated via the example of the Lavender Scare.