A World of Conspiracies: A Global Comparative Perspective to Understanding Conspiracy Theories and Their Believers

In this workshop, we will investigate the factors that influence beliefs in conspiracy theories around the world. Is the typical conspiracy believer the same across different national settings? Does political culture influence the salience of conspiracy theory beliefs? How and why are conspiracy believers different (or similar) across different countries? Are there universal explanations for conspiracy beliefs? Is there a difference between the typical conspiracy believer in the US and in other settings? We seek answers to these questions and are interested in theoretical and empirical papers (either in-depth case analyses, comparative, or large-N studies) that try to establish why and how individuals from different parts of the world believe in conspiracy theories. We invite original contributions from scholars with a background in political science, social psychology, sociology, and related fields. We ask for submissions by researchers at all career levels and we plan to build a special issue in a reputable journal around the papers presented at the workshop.

Day 1: 13:00 - 18:00

Day 2: 8:30 - 16:30