engleski

Conspiracy theories in and about the Balkans

This chapter analyses conspiracy theories in and about the Balkans during the turbulent period of late nineteen and twentieth century. Focus is on their role in changing political contexts, states, movements, critical events and processes, characteristic of this so called land of conspiracies. Three levels of conspiracism are analyzed: First, the Western conspiratorial discourses of Orientalism and Balkanism. Then more mundane, worldwide traveling conspiracy theories of antisemitism and anti-imperialism, together with their recent trajectories. Finally, we analyze the local and politically relevant conspiracy theories related to the last thirty years of wars and other traumatic social changes. The main idea is to explore in which ways these levels of conspiracism took a shape in the Balkans and what kind of political consequences they had produced. The next goal is to show the whole variety of historico-ideological contexts, which made functional those conspiratorial discourses, and how they were accepted or disputed.

The Balkans ; Orientalism ; Balkanism ; antisemitism ; anti-imperialism ; Biarritz ; Protocols of the Elders of Zion ; Freemasons ; Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy theory ; Berlin Congress ; Non-Aligned movement ; Cominform plot ; anti-Zionism ; dissolution of Yugoslavia

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