City Research Online

Abstract

Despite widespread criticism, condemnation, and the failure of many of its prophecies, QAnon remains one of the most successful conspiracist social movements of the 21st century, gaining millions of followers, propelling adherents to cultural and political success, and radically re-shaping the policies and rhetoric of the now ruling party of the most powerful nation on Earth. Despite this success, there has been limited academic research that has attempted to understand the role that con-spiracist and millennialist social movements like QAnon have in the broader success that far-right parties have experienced across the globe. This paper will address this central question through a detailed case study of the QAnon movement. It will begin by providing a framework to understand the persistent relationship far-right and fascist parties have historically had with millennialist and conspiracist social movements, which have frequently functioned as important parts of their political coalitions. Moving to then provide a detailed overview of the QAnon movement, I will analyse how QAnon differs from early pre- and post-war fascist conspiracist movements, noting in particular how QAnon draws from a far more eclectic and improvisational millennialism than these older more na-tionally bounded movements, and how the movement’s international appeal and decentralized struc-ture highlights the digitally mediated and globalized nature of modern far-right parties that represent an important evolution from the fascist era of the 20th century. Through this analysis, this paper demonstrates the enduring but changing role that conspiracist and millennialist social movements play in supporting far-right and fascist parties, and confronting the global far right must involve a sustained assault on its apocalyptic vanguards.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© St Antony’s International Review (2025). All rights reserved.
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs School of Policy & Global Affairs > Department of Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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