ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that conspiracy theories have contributed to the understanding of Europe as a geopolitical entity as much as a political and cultural space. This understanding is shaped in a tension between perceived internal and external enemies, mounting pressure on the boundaries of Europe as much as threatening to dissolve it from inside. Placed in such a dichotomy, the history of the continent has unfolded along contested definitions and civilizational conflicts. Imaginaries of conspiracy have supported these processes of self-definition and ‘othering’. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point, illustrating how different conspiratorial narratives are disseminated to give political events meaning. Qualitative case studies from various European countries and regions show how these themes are framed in the ‘traditional’ and social media and politics and how they are reinforced in a dynamic interaction between online and offline activism, even leading to terrorism. Empirical findings concerning the correlation between Euroscepticism and conspiracy beliefs are also addressed. The chapter also defines key concepts, delineates a genealogy of European conspiracy beliefs and proposes a model conceptualising the tension between ideas of inner dissolution and external extermination.
