Ce mémoire porte sur le processus de racialisation des personnes de confession et/ou de culture musulmane. Il cherche à éclairer la manière dont cette racialisation s’incarne à l’égard des personnes musulmanes qui prennent part aux débats sociopolitiques de leur société (plus spécifiquement ceux entourant les enjeux de laïcité et de signes religieux). La posture scientifique adoptée allie expérience individuelle et analyse sociologique. Dans le cadre analysé, la participation à un débat public au Québec, en 2013 et 2014, autour d’un projet de loi sur la laïcité et la neutralité religieuse de l’État (le projet de loi no 60) a donné lieu à une campagne de diffamation ciblant l’auteure de cette recherche et culminant en une démarche en justice. Ce type de diffamation, qui a pour cible une personne musulmane, puise dans un registre conspirationniste de l’islamisation et de l’infiltration des institutions démocratiques et des organisations de la société civile par les musulman.es vivant dans les sociétés occidentales. À travers un cas comme celui-ci, il est possible d’observer, par une sorte d’effet grossissant, une cristallisation de plusieurs propriétés de la racialisation telle qu’elle s’incarne à l’égard des personnes musulmanes. L’analyse mobilise des vidéos et des publications diffusées sur un blogue actif en 2013 et 2014, véhiculant des thèses conspirationnistes anti-islam, des documents tirés du dossier juridique (poursuite en diffamation), ainsi qu’une reconstruction narrative des évènements. / This dissertation examines the process of racialization of people of Muslim faith and/or culture. It seeks to shed light on the way in which this racialization is exemplified with regard to Muslims who participate in the political and social debates within their society (more precisely, the debates concerning secularism and religious symbols). The scientific approach adopted in this dissertation combines individual experience and sociological analysis. In the case being studied, the participation by the author of this research in a public debate in Quebec, in 2013 and 2014, surrounding a bill on State secularism and religious neutrality (Bill 60) gave rise to a smear campaign targeting her and culminating in legal action. Since the target of this campaign was Muslim, the defamation drew on conspiracy tropes of Islamisation and the infiltration of democratic institutions and of civil society organizations by Muslims living in Western societies. By studying a case such as this it is possible to observe, by a kind of magnifying effect, the crystallisation of several properties of racialization as it is exemplified with regards to Muslims. The analysis in this dissertation employs videos and posts published on a blog that was active in 2013 and 2014 that peddled in anti-Muslim conspiracy theory, documents from the legal file (defamation suit), as well as a narrative reconstruction of the events.

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Conspiracy Theories and Politics in Slovakia: How Conspiracy Thinking Relates to Political Opinions and Preferences Katarína Kondrótová Abstract (English) Conspiracy theories have become a fashionable buzzword, appearing across the internet, the media, and political speeches with great frequency. However, there are many misconceptions associated with them, making them more divisive and mysterious than they need to be. The present contribution seeks to remedy that by providing a deep dive into conspiracy theories. It examines the multitude of their possible definitions and conceptualizations, their existence across history, as well as past research findings about why they appeal to us. In the second half, conspiracy theories are presented through new research regarding their relation to political and ideological preferences of Slovaks. The findings are in line with past studies, showing a relationship between stronger conspiracy beliefs and extremist thinking, preference of authoritarian policies, and low faith in authorities. A regression analysis also uncovered a strong correlation between conspiracy beliefs and the political party the respondents had voted for, as well as their preference of the politics and ideologies of 'the West' (EU, USA) or 'the East' (Russian federation).

Distinguishing between information and disinformation is an ever growing issue. The dramatic structure of a conspiracy theory easily captures a large audience and with the advent of social media, this disinformation can spread at an ever growing rate. This is especially true with the infodemic following the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, where there was a drastic increase in Covid-19 related misinformation on social media. When misinformation replaces fact, some people will inevitably follow borderline dangerous advice. This could unfortunately be seen in the ivermection issue where people injected this substance in hope of preventing/curing a Covid-19 infection. This is why finding patterns in disinformation that distinguishes it from facts would allow us to take measures against the spread of conspiracy theories. We have found patterns in our dataset suggesting that there is a significant difference in the language patterns for terms relating to conspiracy theories, and non-conspiratorial terms. We find that the sentiment of conspiracy theories is very volatile when compared to that of non-conspiratorial terms which follow a more neutral pattern in terms of sentiment. Suggesting that the language usage in a post can be used as a factor when determining the credibility of its content. We also find that conspiracy theories tend to see a drastic increase in mentions when previously being relatively lowin mentions. The result of this thesis could therefore be used as a start for developing tools and processes which would seek to combat the spread of conspiracy theories and limit the potential harm that could come from them.

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Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka vilka konspirationsteorier som förekommer bland medlemmar i tre Facebookgrupper utifrån sex inlägg om Covid-19. Studien jämför även inläggen om Covid-19 i Facebook-grupperna med information från de officiella källorna World Health Organization och Folkhälsomyndigheten, hur informationen från de olika källorna framställs och skillnaderna i informationen mellan dem. Detta bidrar till en bättre förståelse om användningen och olika typer av vilseledande information. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ språklig analys eftersom det sällan förekommer studier om textens innehåll i vilseledande information.  Studien uppmärksammar tidigare forskning om sambandet mellan sociala medier och konspirationsteorier. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna är tre typer av vilseledande information och begrepp såsom social kontroll och selektiv exponering förekommer. Resultatet visar att det förekommer fyra huvudsakliga konspirationsteorier och sex tillhörande konspirationsteorier i diskussioner om Covid-19 i de undersökta grupperna på Facebook. I dessa diskussioner är desinformation mest förekommande. Resultatet diskuteras i jämförelse med information från World Health Organization och Folkhälsomyndigheten. Den vilseledande informationen bildar budskap och tolkningar genom tecken och språk i form av texter. Diskussionerna belyser slutligen att den tidigare forskningen, till viss del, stämmer överens med vår studie samt ger förslag på eventuell framtida forskning om konspirationsteorier. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the conspiracy theories that exist among members of three Facebook groups based on six posts about Covid-19. The study also compares the posts about Covid-19 in the Facebook groups with information from the official sources World Health Organization and the Swedish Public Health Authority, how the information from the different sources is presented and the differences in the information between them. This contributes to a better understanding of the use and different types of misleading information. The study is based on a qualitative linguistic analysis since there are only a few studies on the text's content in misleading information. The study draws attention to previous research on the connection between social media and conspiracy theories. The theoretical starting points are three different types of misinformation and concepts such as social control and selective exposure occur. The results show that there are four main conspiracy theories and six related conspiracy theories in discussions about Covid-19 in the analyzed groups on Facebook. In these discussions, disinformation is most common. The result is discussed in comparison with information from the World Health Organization and the Swedish Public Health Authority. The misleading information forms messages and interpretations through signs and language in the form of texts. Finally, the discussions highlight that the previous research, to some extent, is consistent with our study and provide suggestions for possible future research on conspiracy theories.

Il est difficile de définir le groupe des citoyens souverains car il a été très peu étudié. Selon les sources, il s’agit d’un groupe terroriste, d’un groupe sectaire ou d’un mouvement radical. La Gendarmerie royale du Canada, les tribunaux et certains services fédéraux et provinciaux prennent des mesures pour contrer l’impact des actions criminelles qu’ils commettent. Pour sa part, le Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité (SCRS) n’identifie pas ce groupe comme une entité terroriste. L’objectif de ce mémoire n’est pas de définir le groupe des citoyens souverains, mais plutôt de comprendre le processus d’adhésion à ce groupe au Québec. À l’aide de la théorie de l’action situationnelle, il démontre les étapes de la création d’un filtre moral chez les adhérents au mouvement. Par induction analytique à partir de témoignages de membres du groupe, il présente les conditions nécessaires à l’adhésion aux citoyens souverains. Parmi celles-ci, on retrouve la victimisation et l’exposition sélective aux théories du complot. Ce mémoire est la première étude qui sonde le point de vue des adhérents pour permettre de comprendre comment ils en viennent à commettre des gestes illégaux qu’eux considèrent légitimes. / Groups of sovereign citizens are hard to define since they are the subject of very few studies. According to sources, they are terrorist groups or sectarian groups or they are part of a radical movement. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, courts and some federal and provincial departments and agencies are taking measures to offset the impact of criminal actions they commit. As for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), it does not consider these groups as terrorist entities. The purpose of this thesis is not to define these groups per se, but rather to understand the enrolment process for Quebec sovereign citizens. Through situational action theory, it shows the various steps involved in the creation of a moral filter by this movement’s members. By analytic induction based on testimonies of group members, it shows the prerequisites for enrolling in the sovereign citizen movement – such as victimization and selective exposure to conspiracy theories. This thesis is the first study to poll the views of these members in order to understand how they get to commit illegal acts that they consider to be totally legitimate.

Conspiracy theories are an old-new phenomenon which has gained its importance and specific character over the last three centuries. Unofficially, they have become an alternative tradition of the interpretation of historical events connected with an alternative form of spirituality, known as conspirituality. This manner of the interpretation usually holds the power when the consensually accepted worldview loses its plausibility for the concrete person or group. Conspiracy theories are the verbalization of a certain way of thinking and action which depends on it. Most often, they are manifested in the form of myths. That is understood as one of the dominant structures, commonly connected with traditionally perceived religion. From this point of view and in terms of the function associated with conspiracy narratives, conspiracy theories are examined as functional and structural equivalents of religion. These functions are especially the defense of the order (nomos), differentiation of the outer reality or the explanation of the presence of Evil in the world. In addition, they can also become a medium or tool of social actors in power relations. This thesis represents the complementary overview of the contemporary approaches in the study of religion discourse, which deals with unconventional religiosity...

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka antivaccin-diskurser på Facebooksidan Kavla Ner och jämföra dem med tre antivaccin-diskurser tidigare funna av Kata (2010). Tidigare forskning visar att antivaccin-grupper utnyttjar postmodernistiskt tänkande och att sociala medier är ett kraftfullt verktyg vad gäller åsiktsbildning om vaccin. Därtill kan konspirationsteorier som sprids om vaccin bidra till en ökad tro på att vaccin är farligt.Materialet som analyseras är 30 inlägg från Facebooksidan Kavla Ner och studien bygger på Faircloughs (1992) tredimensionella modell för kritisk diskursanalys. Texterna har analyserats med hjälp av analysverktygen lexikala val och modalitet. Detta görs med utgångspunkt i teorier om ideologi och diskurs, postmodernism samt kulturell hegemoni.Resultatet av analysen visar förekomsten av antivaccin-diskurser och att två av de funna diskurserna stämmer överens med de Kata (2010) funnit. Därtill gjordes nya upptäckter i form av en ny diskurs och de kategoriserande teman Kata funnit utvecklades. Resultatet visade att en stor mängd av inläggen är färgade av ett postmodernistiskt tänkande. Konspirationsteorier visade sig också vara vanligt förekommande i inläggen. Slutsatsen av studien är att de sociala praktiker som påverkar antivaccin-diskursen även skulle kunna påverka andra områden, vilket ytterligare förklarar vikten av att förstå fenomenet vaccinmotstånd. / The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine anti-vaccine discourses on the Kavla Ner Facebook page and to compare them to three anti-vaccine discourses previously found by Kata (2010). Research shows that anti-vaccine communities utilize postmodern ways of thought, and that social media is a powerful tool when it comes to affecting people's opinions about vaccination. Furthermore, conspiracy theories which are spread on the internet can contribute to belief that vaccines are dangerous.The material which has been analyzed consists of 30 posts from the Kavla Ner Facebook page and the method is based on Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional model for critical discourse analysis. The texts have been analyzed using the tools lexical choices and modality, while drawing on theories about ideology and discourse, postmodernism and cultural hegemony.The result shows the presence of anti-vaccine discourses on the Facebook page, and that two of the discourses are consistent with those found by Kata (2010). In addition, a new discourse was found and the categorizing themes by Kata were expanded. Conspiracy theories proved to be common in the posts. The results also showed that a large number of the posts are characterized by postmodernist thinking. Finally, it is concluded that the social practices which influence the anti-vaccine discourse could affect other areas, which further explains the importance of understanding the phenomenon of vaccine resistance.

Based on a historiographical, archival and media analysis, this doctoral thesis explores the phenomenon of parakratos (translated as deep state or parastate) in post-civil war Greece (1949-1967). Research perspectives are fourfold: Firstly, parakratos is discussed in the context of academic debates on parapolitics and the concepts of the dual state, the security state and the deep state; and presented as a Cold War parallel power mechanism, analogical to Italy and Turkey. Secondly, parakratos is analysed as part of domestic political reality through the prism of the historical events documented in Greek historiography. In this sense, the thesis concentrates on the emergence and operation of clandestine military groups and parastate ultra- nationalist organisations against the backdrop of the Greek political, legal and social environment. Both phenomena are elaborated on through the lens of the inefficient Greek political and administrative system, a deeply divided society, the politicisation of the public space, and the persistence of clientelist networks constructed upon political loyalties. Third, the parakratos is examined on an interpretative level as a term and concept employed in Greek historiography. Focusing on its presumed roots, actors, purposes and relations with the state, three...