The psychological literature largely consents that conspiracy theories may emerge both as a state and a trait. government being complicit in the 9/11 terrorist strikes) and corporate giants (e.g., pharmaceutical companies), but also ideological or ethnic outgroups (e.g., Democrats or Republicans Jewish or Muslim people). They all ascribe nefarious motives to other groups, including powerful groups like governments (e.g., U.S. These theories range from highly implausible (e.g., governments consist of shape-shifting reptilian aliens) to possible (e.g., specific and concrete suspicions of corruption within a governmental organization). Conspiracy theories are defined as explanatory beliefs of significant events, involving multiple actors who join together in secret agreement and try to achieve an unlawful or malevolent hidden goal (Zonis & Joseph, 1994). Οver the past two decades, a proliferation of studies have suggested that a nontrivial part of Western populations believe in various conspiracy theories (Butter & Knight, 2020). The present research was designed to examine how conspiracy beliefs link to support for various forms of democratic governance. Yet, only a few studies have examined the exact relationship between support for democratic values and conspiracy beliefs (Moore, 2018). However, almost 30 years after Fukuyama's seminal thesis, liberal democracies appear under threat (Pinker, 2018) in a “posttruth” era abounding with misinformation and conspiracy theories (Lewandowsky, Ecker, & Cook, 2017) and characterized by low levels of institutional and political trust (Uslaner, 2018). Following Fukuyama's thesis, today we would expect the widespread prevalence of democratic values, citizens becoming ever critical, yet trusting, voters, and the few remaining autocratic countries to be on the verge of embracing liberal-democratic principles. In The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama ( 1992) held that the 21st century signified the victory of liberal democracy over all other forms of government, the ultimate step in the advancement of human civilization. Contrary to the common notion that conspiracy theories are associated with decreased support for democracy, these findings suggest that conspiracy beliefs are associated with a preference for direct over representative democracy. In Study 3 ( N = 298), we experimentally show that a system with direct democracy (as compared with representative democracy) empowered participants and therefore decreased belief in conspiracy theories. Study 2 ( N = 270) replicated these findings and revealed that these relationships were mediated by political cynicism and feelings of powerlessness. Study 1 ( N = 300) shows that belief in conspiracy theories is associated with decreased support for representative democracy but increased support for direct democracy. In this contribution, we integrate previous findings suggesting inconsistent relationships between belief in conspiracy theories and support for democratic governance.

Although an increasing volume of research has identified several negative sociopolitical attitudes as correlates of conspiracy theories, to date it remains unclear whether belief in conspiracy theories is necessarily in conflict with support for democratic governance.

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