Research Project

Law in Conspiratorial Thinking

Taking the case of the Reichsbürger movement in Germany, this project examines the constitutive role of the law within conspiracy-ideological sovereignism, including forms of law created by the movement itself. It investigates the conditions, forms, and societal effects of the movement‘s engagement with law. At its core is the question of what social significance law —including self-created forms of law—acquires for the actors, and how it is mobilized as a resource for legitimizing and asserting claims to authority. Particular attention is paid to the symbolic, authorizing, and officializing qualities of law.

Drawing on ethnographic observations, interviews, artefacts, and online ethnography, the project analyzes diverse practices of engaging with and using law, as well as the subjective meanings actors of the movement attribute to these practices. Conspiracy-ideological sovereignism is examined in the context of increasing legal pluralization and the politicization of law, as a specific form of right-wing legal practice. The appropriation and popularization of law—for instance, as a catchphrase, meme, or political symbol—points to processes of its culturalization and to changing forms of popular engagement with law. The project contributes to the sociology of law and interdisciplinary legal studies, as well as to cultural sociology.