ABSTRACT
This chapter is a little different from the previous few, for two reasons. First, rather than look at historical trends over several decades, this chapter is focused on the more recent phenomenon of globalization and its impacts. Second, the chapter focuses specifically on how conspiracism recently has developed beyond the state and society dynamics already discussed to include transnational elements, many in response to changes outside or beyond the real or perceived control of the state or of societies and social actors. The growth of prominent conspiracists in recent years has been marked, from transnational extremists to transnational media. In some cases, the conspiracy theories propounded by these actors are a direct response to globalization, as in the case of extremists who articulate, through conspiracist explanations, disenchantment with US dominance and the unipolarity of contemporary international affairs. In other cases, older grievances find a new virility or mobility because of globalization; conspiracy theories about, for example, events in the Arab-Israeli conflict or Western colonialism may date back some time, but have a new audience or greater reach as a result of new technologies such as the Internet, satellite television, or other communication media. There are, therefore, a range of relationships between globalization and
conspiracism. At the core, however, there are three of particular importance and which occupy the bulk of this chapter as case studies. The first is the rise of transnational mass media and the reasons for the roles it plays in conspiracism, including in promoting or countering conspiracy theories, and sometimes its position as a perceived victim of a conspiracy by other actors. The second is the new technologies of globalization as a tool linking conspiracists to the prospective audience, and for that matter linking conspiracists together. The Internet is perhaps the most prominent example of such technology. Third is the rise of transnational extremist groups and actors and their role in promoting conspiracist explanations. This is in part a response to globalization, as the Arab world struggles with the economic and social impacts of globalization, the power of the US, and the cultural threat it perceives itself facing from the West. Looking at these three dynamics helps to paint a picture of conspiracism that exists beyond the interactions of states and their societies, and which is articulated through relatively new media and
between actors who, until recently, did not engage each other in the same way, to the same extent, or even at all. All of this is not so much a transformation of conspiracism as an extension of it, but it is important nonetheless, given its emergence, growth and impacts in recent times and its future potential.
