Mobilising Through Conspiracy: Frames, Alignments, and Cooperation Across Far-Right and Alternative Milieus

I would like to present and discuss a work-in-progress paper that examines emerging forms of alignment and cooperation between far-right actors and heterogeneous protest milieus in the German-speaking context, with a particular focus on Austria. The study is part of a broader project on the production and dissemination of conspiracy-theoretical narratives and investigates the supply side of conspiracy discourse. It analyses how discursive offers are structured: the argumentative logics they employ, the affective and cognitive appeals they mobilise, and the ways in which they construct worldviews that claim explanatory and motivational force for their audiences. The paper focuses on online communication produced by far-right actors, hyper-partisan alternative media, Christian fundamentalist organisations, and esoteric–spiritual communities. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, these milieus have exhibited growing points of connection not only at the level of discourse but also in real-world cooperation, including joint mobilisations and mutually reinforcing communication practices. The study conceptualises these developments through the lens of discursive alignment, arguing that shared interpretive frames and compatible crisis narratives can generate mobilising effects and facilitate tactical cross-milieu cooperation. Conspiracy theories serve as higher-order frameworks linking disparate issue fields—migration, climate politics, health, LGBTIQ rights, and geopolitics—into overarching meta-narratives of threat, deception, and systemic decline. These shared frames foster symbolic resonance, reduce ideological boundaries, and support the formation of situational alliances. Methodologically, the paper draws on frame analysis (Benford & Snow) and the sociology-of-knowledge approach to discourse (Keller). It examines semantic structures, interdiscursive linkages, crisis imaginaries, and strategies of affective and epistemic address. As a work in progress, the contribution presents preliminary analytical considerations and seeks to discuss how discursive alignment, conspiratorial truth claims, and cross-milieu cooperation can be conceptualised within research on digital extremism and far-right “politics of truth.”