Skip to main content
search

Conspiracy theories (CT) contribute to the formation of harmful political identities that help to block democratic processes and cause mistrust in democratic institutions.

They are primarily directed against marginalised groups and work to restrict their access to political participation, thereby promoting the fragmentation of liberal plural societies, reducing the complexity of the so-called VUCA world and exploiting the openness and liberalism of democratic societies as a weakness.

In our view, the emergence of these political identities is a major threat to democracies, but current debunking approaches are not sufficient due to the belief-like structures of conspiracy ideologies.

TaCT-FoRSED is based on research data suggesting that experiences of political self-efficacy and the formation of resilience due to the ambiguity of democratic processes have a positive effect on preventing the formation of such problematic identities.

TaCT-FoRSED is working to deepen the body of research on conspiracy identities and to develop research- and evidence-based educational materials to support especially multipliers in the educational sector and policy makers to include these preventive measures in their work.

Close Menu