This book focuses on the constant tension between democracy and conspiratorial behavior in the
new global order. It addresses the prevalence of conspiracy theories in the phenomenon of
Donald Trump and Trumpism and the paranoid style of American politics that existed long before
first identified with Richard Hofstadter. Hellinger looks critically at both those who hold
conspiracy theory beliefs and those who rush to dismiss them. Hellinger argues that we need to
acknowledge that the exercise of power by elites is very often conspiratorial and invites both
realistic and outlandish conspiracy theories. How we parse the realistic from the outlandish
demands more attention than typically accorded in academia and journalism. Tensions between
global hegemony and democratic legitimacy become visible in populist theories of conspiracy
both on the left and the right. He argues that we do not live in an age in which conspiracy
theories are more profligate but that we do live in an age in which they offer a more profound
challenge to the constituted state than ever before.
