Barkun has acted as a consultant for the
Federal Bureau of Investigation; as a member of the Special Advisory Commission to the
FBI Critical Incident Response Group from late 1995 to early 1996, he provided training and background presentations on extremist groups.[2] He serves on the
editorial boards of Terrorism and Political Violence and Nova Religio, and was the editor of Communal Societies from 1987 to 1994. He edits the Religion and Politics book series for the
Syracuse University Press. He won the 2003 Distinguished Scholar award from the Communal Studies Association, and the Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights for his book Religion and the Racist Right.
Systemic conspiracy theories: The conspiracy is believed to have broad goals, usually conceived as securing control of a country, a region, or even the entire world. The goals are sweeping, whilst the conspiratorial machinery is generally simple: a single, evil organization implements a plan to infiltrate and subvert existing institutions. This is a common scenario in conspiracy theories that focus on the alleged machinations of
Jews,
Freemasons,
communists, or the
Catholic Church.[9]
Superconspiracy theories: For Barkun, such theories link multiple alleged conspiracies together hierarchically. At the summit is a distant but all-powerful evil force. His cited examples are the ideas of
David Icke and
Milton William Cooper.[9]
Barkun discusses four types of groups categorized by the nature of secrecy involved: a Type 1 conspiracy theory refers to a secret group which acts secretly, and a Type 3 conspiracy theory refers to a known group which acts secretly (Types 2 and 4 lie outside of conspiracy theory).
A Culture of Conspiracy
In his book A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (2003), Barkun dives into the different characteristics of conspiracy theories. According to him, there are certain attributes that occur in every account of conspiracy. First, conspiracy negates the possibility that something could happen by chance. Nothing in a conspiracist worldview is ever due to chance. Conspiracy theories are created at the root of the statement that nothing happens by accident.
Barkun states that in this view the universe is governed by design rather than randomness, which means that there is no room for accidents, everything is intentional. Secondly, when it comes to conspiracy, nothing is as it seems. Conspiracists have to disguise their true intentions and identities through deception. Therefore, according to conspiracy theorists, the appearance of innocence means nothing. Lastly, in conspiracy, everything is connected. Working hand in hand with the claim that nothing is left up to chance, the claim that everything is connected means that patterns are created everywhere in response. Constant linkage and connection must be created to explain what may seem like accidental.
Furthermore, Barkun works to set the stage for the presence of conspiracist views that leave a large amount of questions unanswered. All three of these characteristics can be applied to both political and government conspiracies, but also more causally to all types of conspiracy theories.
Works
United Nations System and Its Functions: Selected Readings (1968; co-edited with Robert W. Gregg). Published in
Princeton, NJ by
Van Nostrand as a 460-page hardcover and paperback. A part of the Van Nostrand political science series.
Law Without Sanctions: Order in Primitive Societies and the World Community (1968). Published by
Yale University Press as a 179-page hardcover.
Law and the Social System (1973; as editor). Published in New York by Lieber-Atherton as a 128-page hardcover (
ISBN0883110067) and paperback (
ISBN0883110075).
Millennialism and Violence (1996; as editor). Published in London and
Portland, OR by
F. Cass as a 177-page hardcover (
ISBN071464708X) and paperback (
ISBN0714642509). It was the second in the Cass series on political violence.
Barkun, Michael (2003). Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America.
Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.
ISBN0520238052. A 243-page hardcover book. It was the 15th book in the Comparative Studies in Religion and Society series. A 251-page paperback edition was published in 2006 (
ISBN0520248120). A second edition was published in 2013 as a 320-page paperback (
ISBN0520276825).
^Daschkea, Dereck (2006). "A Review of A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America". Terrorism and Political Violence. 18 (4): 608–609.
doi:
10.1080/09546550601000322.
S2CID147339483.