Conspiracy and Power

Donatella Di Cesare is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the Sapienza University of Rome.

• Who pulls the strings? In the depths of intriguePolitics and its shadow-realmThe unreadability of the worldEnigmas and misunderstandingsThe workings of the plotDemocracy and powerThe cause of all our illsHungry for mythsThe Prague cemetery: the backdrop to the plot Spokesmen for the deceivedSovereign ressentimentThe New World OrderThe “Great Replacement” and the QAnon patriotsThe extreme taste for the apocalypse. Hidden enemiesPopulism and the plot Victimhood and political powerlessnessOn the “heresy” of believers in plots: a critique of Umberto EcoTransparency and secrecy. In the pressIn praise of suspicionBeyond anti-conspiracism Notes

‘Conspiracism, according to Donatella Di Cesare, is a political problem that has more to do with power than truth. This short book is packed with this and other valuable insights about a modern malaise with a long history.’Quassim Cassam, University of Warwick‘An essential vade mecum for the descent into Wonderland that has become the daily fate of a connected citizen. Di Cesare anatomises the complex scenarios of malevolent forces, plots and secrets that thrive in the margins of media democracies and discovers they are less cause than consequence of the closing of contemporary public space.’Howard Caygill, Goldsmiths, University of London