CONSPIRE - Conspiracy Narratives in Austria: Causes, Risk Factors, and Prevention

CONSPIRE - Conspiracy Narratives in Austria: Causes, Risk Factors, and Prevention

  • Project management: Karin Liebhart (IKF)
  • IKF project team: Stefanie Mayer, Sebastian Müllner
  • Duration: 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2026

The project examines the social, democratic, and security policy challenges posed by conspiracy narratives and mentalities, particularly among the generation 45+.

Conspiracy narratives and conspiracy mentalities – i.e., the fundamental disposition to believe in conspiracies – are increasingly leading to social and security policy challenges, particularly due to their potential for endangering democracy. This is evident, for example, in conspiracy believers' abandonment of democratic institutions and in individual radicalization processes, hostility towards science, and the establishment of "post-factual" discourse. However, conspiracy narratives are also deliberately used by extremist actors to spread anti-democratic ideologies.

Studies in Austria and internationally demonstrate clear links between conspiracy beliefs and authoritarianism, as well as group-focused hatred, especially antisemitism. Furthermore, past studies in Austria have shown that older adults in particular are susceptible to conspiracy narratives, which is closely connected to a lack of media literacy. At the same time, older people are less likely than young people to be targeted by prevention programs such as (critical) media education.

The CONSPIRE project therefore uses a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative research approaches (representative survey, qualitative interview research, network and discourse analysis) to investigate the prevalence of conspiracy mentalities and narratives in various population and age groups in Austria, their connection to individual and social factors, and the discursive strategies and dynamics in the online sphere. Drawing on the expertise of the relevant agencies, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Office for Cult Affairs (Bundesstelle für Sektenfragen), evidence-based prevention strategies and countermeasures are being developed that are specifically tailored to the age group 45 and older. The project addresses a methodological and empirical research gap and the lack of specific strategies for prevention practice for this target group.

Implementation: