Contending Securitization: Populism, Conspiracy Theories, and the COVID-19 pandemic

There is an emerging consensus that conspiracy theories are dangerous. Researchers and policymakers have highlighted the way conspiracy theories can fuel extremism, undermine democracy, and be mobilised by states as part of information operations. This emerging consensus fits comfortably within well understood practices of securitization. While this issue has been examined extensively in recent scholarship, less has been said about the extent to which conspiracy theories also position elite security actors and their policies as existential threats.  This project examines the relationship between elite and populist securitization by taking seriously the security politics of conspiracy theories.

Bringing critical security approaches together with conspiracy theory research, we develop an account of what we coin contending securitization processes. We explore this dynamic through the example of COVID-19 conspiracy theories, which securitized elites, and were securitized by elites, each positioning the other as an existential threat and competing to convince overlapping audiences of the danger. In this context we situate conspiracy theories as both the object of elite securitization, and an albeit problematic site of populist resistance against elite consensus. More broadly, by bringing conspiracy theory alongside elite securitization, we open the ground to understand the relational dynamic between them.

Dr Tim Aistrope is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Kent. His work explores the relationship between popular culture and world politics, especially the way it shapes our understanding of past events and potential futures. Find out more via his website.

 

Dr Ugo Gaudino is a Lecturer in Criminal Justice at the University of Kingston. His research interests include Critical Security and Terrorism Studies, French and Italian politics, and Islamophobia in Europe. Find out more via his profile.