Lea Gerster: Populist conspiracies thrive in moments of desperation

ISD Analyst Lea Gerster features in this newsletter article for Coda Story, commenting on why people turn to conspiracies in moments of desperation: “populist conspiracies tend to spread when people’s livelihoods are being impacted”.

With the alleged, pre-scheduled maintenance shutdown of the Nord Stream pipeline by Gazprom (Russian-state owned gas company), people were quick to question Europe’s intention in the context of the war with Russia. Some of the narrative’s Lea has been seeing include: “the government or people who support Ukraine want us to freeze for peace”. She compares it to the rhetoric around immigration and how those buying into it believe politicians are promoting it for their own ‘interests’.