UW Jackson School for International Studies associate professor Scott Radnitz, a CIP faculty member, was recently featured in a Coda Story Q&A where he discussed his research on conspiracy theories and his book Revealing Schemes: the Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region, published in summer 2021 by Oxford University Press. In the interview, Radnitz discussed how conspiracy theories are used as political tools, how political conspiracy theories are used in Russia and post-Soviet region, and the difference between propaganda and conspiracy theories.
“The reason that a lot of politicians use conspiracy theories is number one: many people believe them,” Radnitz said. “They find that kind of rhetoric attractive because they see the world in conspiratorial ways. Or they are attracted to rhetoric that makes them feel like they’re on the inside with the people who know what’s going on and feel solidarity in the fact that everybody recognizes that they have a common enemy…”
- Read the Coda Story Q&A with Radnitz | How conspiracies work in Russia