Abstract
»Sicherheit und Verschwörung in der Neuzeit«. Security History is a
new field in historical research. Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories have attracted
since some years great attention, both in historical and in social research.
A thorough study of those both opposed and mirroring key phenomena
and concepts does not exist. This contribution tries to outline a sketch of the
development of their interwoven history, how (imagined) conspiracies challenged
new means of security production and vice versa. The main assumption
is that a) a translocal public sphere, b) concepts, practices and means of institutionalized
security production, and c) developed narratives that contain conspiracy
theories only emerge together from the Renaissance onwards. Only if
there is a public sphere in which conspiracy theories can circulate anonymously
they become themselves an element of historical agency. Security as a leading
principle of politics emerges only with the development of the state. The contribution
outlines the steps of change from confessional age to Enlightenment,
to the Revolutionary age and to Modernity, identifying mainly two important
systematic changings which affect the security/conspiracy combination (Emergence
of observability alongside the politics/religion and Ancien Régime/
Bourgeois Society distinctions). It finally asks if there is currently happening
a third epochal shift of comparable importance.
new field in historical research. Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories have attracted
since some years great attention, both in historical and in social research.
A thorough study of those both opposed and mirroring key phenomena
and concepts does not exist. This contribution tries to outline a sketch of the
development of their interwoven history, how (imagined) conspiracies challenged
new means of security production and vice versa. The main assumption
is that a) a translocal public sphere, b) concepts, practices and means of institutionalized
security production, and c) developed narratives that contain conspiracy
theories only emerge together from the Renaissance onwards. Only if
there is a public sphere in which conspiracy theories can circulate anonymously
they become themselves an element of historical agency. Security as a leading
principle of politics emerges only with the development of the state. The contribution
outlines the steps of change from confessional age to Enlightenment,
to the Revolutionary age and to Modernity, identifying mainly two important
systematic changings which affect the security/conspiracy combination (Emergence
of observability alongside the politics/religion and Ancien Régime/
Bourgeois Society distinctions). It finally asks if there is currently happening
a third epochal shift of comparable importance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 7-45 |
| Journal | Historical Social Research |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Keywords
- security
- security history
- conspiracy
- conspiracy theory
- communication
- history
- information public sphere
- Antichrist
- confessional age
- Renaissance
- Enlightenment
- revolution
- Modernity
- late Modernity
- theory of epochs