Reviews  102 

 

 

FOLKLORICA 2023, Vol. XXVII 

 

REVIEWS 

 

Astapova, A., Colăcel, O., Pintilescu, C., and Scheibner, T. (Eds.). 

(2020). Conspiracy Theories in Eastern Europe: Tropes and Trends. Abingdon; 

New York: Routledge, 2020. Bibliography. Index. xv+294. $112 (cloth), $39.16 

(paper), and $39.16 (eBook). ISBN 9780367344771 (cloth). ISBN 

9781000214697 (paper). ISBN 9780429326073 (eBook).  

 

In the current era of post-truth politics and almost universal erosion of trust 

in institutions, processes, and experts on a global scale, a collection of essays 

focusing on the historical and contemporary specifics of conspiratorial 

mythmaking and its consumption in Eastern Europe is unquestionably timely and 

relevant. One of the significant advantages of this volume is that it is one of the 

few contemporary systematic attempts to shift the topical focus away from the 

West while also providing an ambitious overview of the post-communist Eastern 

European conspiratorial landscape.  

The volume's scope communicates this goal, consisting of thirteen chapters 

divided into four sections corresponding to sequential chronological order and 

national perspectives related to the main drivers of conspiratorial propagation and 

amalgamation. According to the editors, these drivers include the historical 

legacies of nationalism and national victimhood, communism, and post-

communism. The book also examines reactions to more contemporary global 

phenomena as scrutinized through the vantage points of national case studies, 

including Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania and Hungary, 

Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, and former Yugoslav republics. Additional chapters 

examine Stalinist conspiracy theories exported to France and Italy. 

One of the most significant parts of the book is its introduction which 

contains the framework of analysis for the entire volume. The introduction 

identifies its primary task “to seek to understand the function that conspiracy 

theories fulfill in the societies and cultures, both right now and in the long term” 

(4), indicating a clear preference for a functionalist approach. In turn, this leads 

the editors “to the conclusion that most [conspiracy theories] focus on four 

thematic areas: 1) conspiracy theories and their relationship with dictatorships or 

authoritarian regimes in the region, including the recent authoritarian drift of some 

East European countries; 2) antisemitic conspiracy theories (this category 

overlaps with the first one, since the Soviet Union, but especially Nazi Germany 

and its satellite countries, heavily instrumentalized anti-Jewish conspiracy 

theories); 3) conspiracy theories that are strongly entangled with national 

victimhood narratives, presenting the countries of the region as victims of great 

powers; 4) new trends or emerging conspiracy tropes in the region framed by the 

globalization process” (15).  

In addition to these four focus areas, the editors outline several avenues for 

investigation. The most interesting one is the modes of conspiratorial circulation 

during the Cold War and post-Cold War period and their integration into the 

global conspiratorial landscape. Thus, some of the most interesting chapters deal 



 Reviews  103 

 

 

FOLKLORICA 2023, Vol. XXVII 

 

with specific conspiratorial tropes that illustrate how conspiratorial tropes 

proliferate and circulate at national and international levels.  

The initial directions outlined in the introduction enable some contributors 

to tackle their respective case studies with sufficient scope, depth, detail, and 

adherence to the theoretical framework. However, overall, the volume suffers 

from a certain degree of heterogeneity. Several contributions deviate from the 

promise of robust design that is elegantly outlined at the beginning of the book. 

Having noted this lack of consistency, it is fair to note that some of the chapters 

are outstanding and deserve our attention, such as the ones authored by Péter 

Csunderlik and Tamás Scheibner dealing with the Myth of Judeo-Bolshevik 

Conspiracy in Hungary, Biljana Gjoneska, Kristijan Fidanovski, and André 

Krouwel’s chapter focused on North Macedonia’s EU-related conspiracy 

theories, and the contribution of M. R. X. Dentith on warranted and unwarranted 

conspiracy theories and their epistemology in the East European context in the 

closing chapter of the book.  

Regardless of my criticism of the volume's consistency, Conspiracy Theories 

in Eastern Europe: Tropes and Trends is an excellent example of a 

comprehensive overview of a fascinating, complex, and essential phenomenon in 

an understudied context. As a result, this book makes an original and meaningful 

contribution to the subject and is a good resource for researchers and students. 

Kiril Avramov  

The University of Texas at Austin  

Austin, United States 

kiril.avramov@austin.utexas.edu