Reviews

GIQ considers for review reference works, important microform sets and microcomputer software, relevant Web sites, and professional literature. Priority will be given to works that cover government information policy. Reviews do not exceed 500 words without prior permission of the Reviews Edi- tor. The views expressed are those of the reviewers and do not necessarily reflect those of the Edito- rial Board or the publisher. Standard directories supply publishers’ addresses.

Persons wishing to write reviews or to suggest titles should contact me at: Documents, Maps, Microforms, and Curriculum Department, University Library, 801 S. Morgan St. (M/C 234), University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago, Illinois 60607-7041 <alfred@uic.edu>. Publishers, likewise are requested to forward announcements of new or forthcoming titles that may interest our

readers.

John A. Shuler

Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From

By Daniel Pipes

ReviewedbyEvanMcKenzie.................................................... 445

International Information: Documents,

Publications and Electronic Information of International Government Organizations

Edited by Peter I. Hajnal

Reviewed by Daniel C. Barkley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Titanic: The Offkial Story

Reviewed by Harold C. Relyea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From, by Daniel Pipes. New York: Free Press, 1997. xii, 258 pp. $25.00 (cloth). ISBN O-6848313-17.

Reviewed by Evan McKenzie, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60608 <mckenzie@uic.edu>.

Conspiracy thinking has never been more in vogue in mass culture than it is today, as evi- denced by the popularity of conspiracy-centered television series, such as the X Files; motion pictures, like Mel Gibson’s Conspiracy Theory; and the nationally-syndicated Art

Government Information Quarterly, Volume 15, Number 4, pages 445451. Copyright 0 1998 by JAI Press Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 0740-624X

446 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. 1 S/No. 4/l 998

Bell radio show. But, in the higher circles of public policy discourse, few labels carry a

more direct ticket to oblivion than “conspiracy theorist.” In the streets, belief in conspira-

cies is wisdom. In the suites, it is a sign of a weak mind-or at least, that is what they want

you to think.

But what qualifies somebody as a conspiracy theorist’? At what point does openness of

mind evidence a lack of common sense? Where does healthy skepticism about government

shade into paranoia? When does the constant process of making sense of the social world

become pathological? In short, how do we know we are not conspiracy theorists?

Daniel Pipes believes he has answers to these questions. Pipes is editor of Middle East

Quarterly and author of a previous book about conspiracy thinking in the Arab world.’ In

the present work, he ventures beyond his normal geographical focus and offers what he

calls “a unified interpretation of conspiracism” (p. xii). The book that he has produced falls

short of that, mainly because he spends too much time and energy denouncing his ideolog-

ical adversaries by using adjectives such as “harebrained” (Noam Chomsky, p. 160), label-

ling them “conspiracy theorists” despite admitting that they carefully avoid alleging the

existence of conspiracies (Susan Faludi, p. 163) and, throughout the book, labelling claims

of British, American, and Israeli misconduct as irrational conspiracies. The British and

American governments are, he says, “the most benign governments in human experience”

(p. 48). Anybody who favors the opposite view is a conspiracy theorist. The problems with

Pipes’ work begin with his definitions, starting with the term “conspiracy,” which he never

defines at all, notwithstanding the fact that it is the title of the book. He merely notes in

passing the standard legal definition of a criminal conspiracy (two or more people combin-

ing their efforts to commit a criminal act). This would be fine for a book about racketeer-

ing, but it is far too narrow to cover the range of political intrigues in which Pipes’

“conspiracists” believe. But Pipes apparently feels he does not need an operational defini-

tion of conspiracy, because this book is not about “real” conspiracies, although he

acknowledges that they exist. Instead, it is about conspiracy theory, which he defines as

“the fear of nonexistent conspiracies” (p. 1).

This focus raises what should be a difficult question for Pipes: how do we determine

whether a conspiracy is nonexistent or real, in order to decide whether someone is or is not

a conspiracy theorist? But Pipes resolves this by saying that we can tell by the way they

think. He offers a list of the basic assumptions of conspiracy thinking: the lust for power is

the predominant human motivation; one who gains from an event must have caused it to

occur (qui bono); conspiracies are the main driving force of history; nothing happens by

accident; and appearances are nearly always deceptive (apparent enemies are really friends, and the reverse). Pipes also claims that conspiracy theorists use flawed logic, have

inadequate standards for evidence, and allow their theories to become “a way of seeing life

itself’ (p. 22). He argues that, paradoxically, the more benign, powerless, and idealistic a

group is, the more likely it is to be the scapegoat in a conspiracy theory. Hence, the prom-

inence of Jews. secret societies, such as the Freemasons, and the American, British, and

Israeli governments as prime conspirators. Being the target of a conspiracy theory he con-

tends, is actually a badge of honor: “Just as antisemitism is a distorted testimony to the

achievements of the Jews, so can Americans take oblique satisfaction that their govem-

ment stands out as the worst secret society danger” (p. 153).

Reviews 447

If conspiracy thinking is as prevalent as Pipes asserts, and as dangerous as he believes, government information policy would be a logical place to begin making reforms. Inade- quate disclosure of public information, withholding of facts on security grounds, informa- tion snafus, and the falsehoods and coverups that follow official misdeeds must sometimes lead otherwise reasonable people to draw erroneous conclusions about imaginary conspir-

acies.

But Pipes leaves this unexplored. Instead, he argues the opposite: conspiracism is pro- moted by the American public policies that protect maximum freedom of speech, press, and information. He argues that conspiracy thought spreads in the United States and around the world via “political organizations, publications, and the Internet.” And this leads to his most pessimistic conclusion: American freedom of speech, he argues, promotes conspiracies abroad, because “conspiracist ideas banned elsewhere for their violent and noxious qualities find American publishers” (p. 118), and a global forum on the World Wide Web.

Pipes believes that conspiracies may remain marginalized and be mainly a form of enter- tainment in the United States, where liberal democracy is already established, but that America’s freedom of speech is germinating conspiracist seeds which are sprouting in the former Soviet bloc and throughout the developing world. Because these nations are new to capitalist and liberal democratic forms, he argues, these conspiracist seeds are much more dangerous. Experience suggests that non-western conspiracies “can grow for centuries, hold sway for decades, and contribute to immense tragedies along the way” (p. 185). Of course, some readers may find this double standard patronizing and ethnocentric.

Notwithstanding its shortcomings, this is a provocative work on a fascinating topic, and one that should interest readers concerned with information policy and political communi- cations. People who share Pipes’ conservatism will no doubt find the book thoroughly agreeable. Others may feel that he unfairly associates contemporary critics of U.S., British, and Israeli policies with the hateful irrationalities of Nazism, Stalinism, antisemitism, and anti-secret society movements. But those interested in conspiracies, real or imaginary, should at least read and appreciate this entry on an important subject which has received much less scholarly attention than it deserves.

REFERENCE

1, Daniel Pipes, The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy (New York: Free Press, 1996).

International Information: Documents, Publications and Electronic Information of Interna- tional Government Organizations, 2nd edition, edited by Peter I. Hajnal. Englewood, CO: Librar- ies Unlimited. 1997. xxxvi, 528 pp. $105.00. ISBN l-56308-147-4.

Reviewed by Daniel C. Barkley, Assistant Director, Government Information Depart- ment, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-1466 <bark- ley@unm.edus.

In this age of retrieving vast quantities of information electronically, it seems somewhat archaic to produce a second edition of a volume which has not been updated in nearly 10