Introduction

Abstract

The rapid rise of right-wing populist political parties around Europe and across the Atlantic in the early new millennium, coincided with a simultaneous increased spread of conspiracy theories (CTs). The two phenomena are intertwined. Still, not all populists are conspiracy theorists and CTs don’t necessarily all have a populist political side. However, right-wing populists have proved to be especially prone to create and promote CTs, which is investigated here. Conspiracy theories have indeed emerged as one of the most striking features in the discourse of populist political parties. The populist far-right in the West increasingly identifies evil-doers in politics, who are seen as conspiring against the ordinary public. This chapter maps the recent rise of populist CTs and by way of critical discourse analysis, examines their use through history and how they are increasingly filtering into contemporary mainstream politics.