University of Passau
Oliver Hidalgo is chair of political science with a special focus on political theory at the University of Passau and coordinator of the EU-Horizon project TaCT-FoRSED. His main topics are the history of political ideas, democratic theory, digital democracy and politics and religion .
Against the backdrop of the theory of democratic antinomies, Oliver Fernando Hidalgo’s research examines, on the one hand, the conditions, interrelationships and path dependencies under which conspiracy theories become a serious threat to democratic institutions, discourses and identities; on the other hand, it assesses resilience factors that come into play through democracy’s self-efficacy against disinformation and affective polarisation.
Relevant publications
Birnkammerer, H., Christoph, S., Hidalgo, O. (2026). Game-Based Learning als Beispiel für einen methodischen Ansatz zur Förderung von Resilienz gegen Verschwörungstheorien und der Selbstwirksamkeit der Demokratie. In: Firsova-Eckert, E., Schuster, J., Vajen, B. (eds) Verschwörungstheorien als Herausforderung in der Pädagogik und Politischen Bildung. Bürgerbewusstsein. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-50019-1_14
Christoph, S., Hidalgo, O., Yendell, A., Schweitzer M. C. (2025). A Comparative Framework for Explorative Cross-Country Analysis of Factors Promoting and Inhibiting Conspiracy Theories. Open Research Europe 5:386. https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-386/v1
Hidalgo, O. F. (2022). Religion and Conspiracy Theories as the Authoritarian ‘Other’ of Democracy? Politics and Governance 10 (4): 146–156 (https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i4.5826)
Hidalgo, O. F. (2026). Conceptualising Digital Democracy: From Technocracy and Populism to a New Concept of Democratic Authority and Participation. Social Sciences 15(3): 175 (https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15030175).
Yendell, A., Hidalgo, O., Hillenbrand, C. (2021). The Role of Religious Actors in the COVID-19-Pandemic. A Theory-Based Empirical Analysis with Policy Recommendations for Action. Stuttgart: ifa (doi.org/10.17901/akbp1.10.2021)