Political Theory

How do conspiracies happen, how can historians use them to understand more about the past, and where do they begin and cease to be relevant to the study of history? 

Conspiracy and Democracy

lectures

work 2

talks

History! :)

Lectures etc

philosophy

Dame Barbara Stocking is President of Murray Edwards College and former CEO of Oxfam GB. Barbara will be joined by three alumna - Telegraph fashion journalist Ellie Pithers (matriculated 2008), singer-songwriter Polly Paulusma (1994) and the author and comms expert Frances Edmonds (1970).

Women today, women tomorrow

Jonathan Haslam, Professor of the History of International Relations
The history of Russia’s Secret Services from the Revolution to the Fall of the Wall: the Military Intelligence, the codes and ciphers and the KGB. 

Near and Distant Neighbours 1917–1989

Dr Girard will describe how the “red scare” greatly varied depending on the period, the political affiliation or the country; and the main long-lasting conspiracy theory actually concerned the threat of the far-right and, to a certain extent, of the government itself. 

Conspiracy Theories in France and Italy during the Cold War and Decolonization

A Public Lecture by Conspiracy & Democracy Visiting Fellow Professor Cornel Zwierlein (Ruhr-Universität Bochum). 

It seems as if Conspiracy Theories are a particularly modern phenomenon. By relying on some examples and cases, this lecture gives a long-term overview of what they looked like and when they appeared. We possess full-fledged conspiracy theory texts only since the 16th century. While examples may have existed already in Antiquity, we do not possess any textual evidence for them. The lecture tries to develop an explanation for why conspiracy theories emerged only at this point in European history. In order to do so, it is necessary to distinguish between conjurations, any kind of revolts, conspiracies and conspiracy theories. We will show how their coming into being is linked to the emergence of the ‘Information Public Sphere’, as a by-product of the early inter-state diplomatic communication (which has, first, little to do with the later famous ‘Enlightenment Public Sphere’), and how those narratives filled in where knowledge gaps existed. In a hasty run through history, we will distinguish several phases or ‘epochs’ of Conspiracy (theory) communication. Finally, we will ask how Democracy comes in: ‘Real’ democracies were practiced rather nowhere after Ancient Europe, and were rare even during the 19th century. So, in pre-modern times, often it was ‘democracy’ or ‘democrats’ that were ‘conspiring’ against the good order of the commonwealth – not vice versa.

Cornel Zwierlein is Associate Professor at the University of Bochum, Germany. Currently, he is on leave as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. His research focuses on the intersection of political, religious and scientific knowledge. Cornel is the author of ‘Discorso und Lex Dei die Entstehung neuer Denkrahmen im 16. Jahrhundert und die Wahrnehmung der französischen Religionskriege in Italien und Deutschland’ (Göttingen, 2006), and, more recently, ‘Der gezähmte Prometheus. Feuer und Sicherheit zwischen Früher Neuzeit und Moderne’ (Göttingen, 2011). 

The Early Modern Foundations of Conspiracy & Democracy

Mr Dwight Smith Jr will speak about ‘The Mafia & Conspiracy’. Mr Smith’s paper will explore how the idea of the mafia and conspiracy emerged in America, developed and became entangled in very different contexts.

Mr Smith will describe the ideas, experiences, and events through which his book, ‘The Mafia Mystique’ (1975), took shape; the consequences of those events that have led to contemporary public understanding and use of ‘Mafia’ in the United States; and the consequences in a democracy of strategies that were developed for organized crime control. 

The Mafia & Conspiracy

A Public Lecture by Conspiracy & Democracy Visiting Fellow Stef Aupers (Erasmus University of Rotterdam).

In the social sciences, a conspiracy theory is often disqualified as ‘irrational’ superstition or religious belief. In defense, conspiracy theorists present their methods of inquiry as utterly rational – often even more scientific than ‘dogmatic’ institutionalized science. In this lecture, it is argued that both definitions of conspiracy theories are inadequate: they are basically moral labels and informed by a power struggle over ‘true’ knowledge. At closer empirical inspection, conspiracy theorists combine aspects of science and religion to find the ‘truth out there’. On the one hand, they embrace modern skepticism about contemporary institutions, experts and the knowledge they produce. On the other, they are motivated by a desire to believe in a progressively ‘disenchanted world’: by making claims about invisible, yet powerful forces operating beyond the empirical surface of everyday life, they attribute ultimate meaning to a modern, rationalized and globalized society. Conspiracy culture is a complex constellation of skepticism and belief – a rational form of re-enchantment. 

Conspiracy theories between secular scepticism and religious salvation

A public talk by Professor Joseph Parent (University of Miami) & Professor Joseph Uscinski (University of Miami).

Are conspiracy theories overtaking deliberative societies, inflaming discourse and degrading democracy? How much more prone to violence are conspiracy theorists? Which political party is more likely to traffic in conspiratorial talk? Has the Internet ushered in a new era of conspiracy-fueled paranoia? Using original data sources spanning more than a century, Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent provide surprising answers. In taking stock of American conspiracy theories, Uscinski and Parent argue that much of what we thought we knew about conspiracy theories needs amending.

Joseph E. Uscinski is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He earned his Ph.D. in American Politics at the University of Arizona. Professor Uscinski teaches and studies mass media, public opinion, and campaigns.

Joseph M. Parent is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He received his bachelors from the University of Chicago and doctorate from Columbia University. Professor Parent teaches international relations theory, foreign policy, and security studies. 

American Conspiracy Theories

"Is Democracy Conspiratorial?: Koselleck, Furet, and the Debate on the French Revolution"

Since the time of the abbé Barruel, the French Revolution - the source of democratic claims eventually the world over - has been unmasked as the outcome of a dark conspiracy. This talk will examine some of the contemporary legacies of this claim about the secret agenda of democratic self-rule, with a focus on some famous main twentieth-century commentators like Reinhart Koselleck and François Furet who were insufficiently critical of the old allegation even in renovating our sense of where the Revolution fits in modern politics. Dwelling on some of the intellectual origins of Furet's "Interpreting the French Revolution," in which the conspiracy claim figured, the talk will distinguish that strand of the book from other and more valuable impulses, which had other sources, notably the view that democracy is the rule of no one, so that it is very hard to justify or even securely locate its legitimate authorities at any given time.

Samuel Moyn is James Bryce Professor of European Legal History at Columbia University, where he has been teaching since 2001. He is author of "The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History" (2010) and a new collection of essays entitled "Human Rights and the Uses of History" (2014). From July 1, 2014, he will take up a new position as professor of law and history at Harvard University. 

Is Democracy Conspiratorial?

Elizabeth Cropper, dean, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. Ten years after completing his work The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, Bolognese painter Domenichino Zampieri was accused by his rival Giovanni Lanfranco of stealing the idea for the painting from an altarpiece crafted by Lanfranco’s teacher, Agostino Carracci. The resulting scandal reverberated through the centuries, drawing responses by artists and critics from Poussin and Malvasia to Fuseli and Delacroix. Why was Domenichino attacked in this way when other related paintings—including Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin and Perugino’s painting of the same subject—aroused no such negative response? In this lecture recorded on December 11, 2005 at the National Gallery of Art, Elizabeth Cropper presents her latest book, which investigates the Domenichino affair and addresses the perennial debate regarding the precise nature of originality and imitation. Cropper offers a detailed analysis of attitudes toward imitation, emulation, and plagiarism, and a fascinating discussion of what Domenichino’s plight signifies in art history.

The Domenichino Affair: Novelty, Imitation, and Theft in Seventeenth-Century Rome

Welcome to the Science and Policy Seminars Podcast, brought to you by the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge. 
The Seminar series brings together different perspectives and new thinking on the relationship between scientific expertise, policy and politics.
To learn more about the Centre for Science and Policy and our work in promoting engagement between researchers and policy professionals please visit www.csap.cam.ac.uk.  


Nick Pearce - Political leadership and public administration in a post-democratic and populist age

Speaker Series with Robin Sproul, vice president and Washington Bureau Chief, ABC News.

Robin Sproul: Reporting the News in a Shifting Media Landscape | Shorenstein Center

Earlier this year Education Secretary Michael Gove criticised "left-wing myths" about World War One and said they denigrated patriotism and courage by depicting the war as a "misbegotten shambles". His views were criticised by some historians. This debate will discuss how we should teach history in a globalised world and why it is important. BBC Cambridgeshire's Chris Mann chairs a discussion with Professor Evans, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge, Professor David Cesarani, Research Chair in History at the Holocaust Research Centre, Royal Holloway, University of London, Katherine Edwards, a secondary school history teacher and Damian Collins, a Conservative MP, member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History and Modern History graduate. 
http://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/

Learning to remember: how should we teach history?

Hear how archaeology connects people across time and space using examples from nationally important museums and pioneering outreach projects. Join Drs Carenza Lewis and Jody Joy to explore highlights and legacies of the last ten years’ work inspiring thousands of members of the public to unearth new discoveries to advance knowledge and enjoyment of local heritage. In association with Access Cambridge Archaeology and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology with Curating Cambridge - See more at: http://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/events/time-team-archaeology-all#sthash.XGzqFVMV.dpuf

From Time Team to Archaeology for All

How do conspiracies happen, how can historians use them to understand more about the past, and where do they begin and cease to be relevant to the study of history? Such questions were the starting point for this panel debate, in which Professor Christopher Andrew and Dr Stephen Dorril examine cases from Stalinist Russia, Harold Wilson’s government in the 1960s, and Northern Ireland in the 1970s, to name but a few.

History and Conspiracy

Augustine’s Confessions details his personal struggles with morality, his spiritual crisis and the conversion to Christianity that ultimately led him to his major contribution to philosophy: the fusion of the doctrines of Christianity and Neoplatonism. This provided Christianity with a strong intellectual backing by tying it to the Greek tradition of philosophy. Augustine also produced important philosophic ideas of his own, including theories of time and subjective knowledge that anticipated by many centuries the work of Kant and Descartes.

Here is a concise, expert account of St Augustine’s life and philosophical ideas – entertainingly written and easy to understand. Also included are selections from St Augustine’s work, suggested further reading, and chronologies that place St Augustine in the context of the broader scheme of philosophy.