New World Order (conspiracy theory)

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In conspiracy theory, the term "New World Order" (the capital letters are distinguishing) refers to the advent of a cryptocratic or totalitarian one world government.

The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a powerful and secretive group of globalists is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an autonomous world government, which would replace sovereign states and other checks and balances in international power struggles. Significant occurrences in politics and finance are speculated to be caused by an extremely influential cabal operating through many front organizations. Numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an on-going plot to achieve world domination primarily through secret political gatherings and decision-making processes.

Prior to the early 1990s, New World Order conspiracism was limited to two subcultures, primarily the militantly antigovernment right, and secondarily Christian fundamentalists concerned with end-time emergence of the Antichrist. Social critics, such as political scientist Michael Barkun, have expressed concern that paranoid conspiracy theories about a New World Order have now not only been embraced by the far left but have seeped into popular culture, thereby inaugurating an unrivaled period of millenarian activity in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They warn that this development may not only fuel lone-wolf terrorism but have devastating effects on American political life, such as producerist demagogy influencing elections as well as domestic and foreign policy.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Contents 1 History of the term 2 Conspiracy theories 2.1 Illuminati 2.2 Freemasonry 2.3 Protocols of the Elders of Zion 2.4 Round Table 2.5 Open Conspiracy 2.6 Externalization of the Hierarchy 2.7 End Time 2.8 Fourth Reich 2.9 Alien Invasion 2.10 Brave New World 3 Postulated implementations 3.1 Gradualism 3.2 Coup d'état and martial law 3.3 Surveillance-industrial complex 3.4 Occultism 3.5 Mind control 4 Alleged conspirators 5 Criticism 6 Further reading 7 References

[edit] History of the term

During the 20th century, many statesmen, such as Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev, and George H. W. Bush, used the term "new world order" to refer to a new period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power after World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. They all saw these periods as opportunities to implement idealistic or liberal proposals for global governance only in the sense of new collective efforts to identify, understand, or address worldwide problems that go beyond the capacity of individual states to solve. These proposals led to the creation of international organizations, such as the United Nations and NATO, and international regimes, such as the Bretton Woods system and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which were calculated both to maintain a balance of power as well as regularize cooperation between nations. These creations, however, would always be criticized and opposed by American paleoconservatives on isolationist grounds.^[6]

A number of intellectuals of the political left, such as English writer H. G. Wells, adopted and redefined the term “new world order” in their advocacy for the establishment of a full-fledged federal and social democratic world government. In reaction, some conspiracy theorists of the American secular and religious right, whose paranoia was shaped by the Red Scares, began interpreting any use of term “new world order” by members of the Establishment, even when they were simply acknowledging a change in the international balance of power, as a call for the imposition of an atheistic and bureaucratic collectivist world government, which controls the means of production, while the surplus ("profit") is distributed among a ruling class of bureaucrats, rather than among the working class.^[7]

In his 11 September 1990 "Toward a New World Order" speech (full text) to a joint session of the United States Congress, President George H. W. Bush described his administration's objectives for post-Cold-War global governance in cooperation with post-Soviet states:

Until now, the world we’ve known has been a world divided – a world of barbed wire and concrete block, conflict and cold war. Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a "world order" in which "the principles of justice and fair play ... protect the weak against the strong ..." A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations.

Chip Berlet, an investigative reporter specializing in the study of far-right movements in the U.S., writes:

When President Bush announced his new foreign policy would help build a New World Order, his phrasing surged through the Christian and secular hard right like an electric shock, since the phrase had been used to represent the dreaded collectivist One World Government for decades.^[8]

Observers note that the galvanization of right-wing conspiracy theorists into militancy and their use of viral propaganda on the Internet contributed to their political ideas about the New World Order finding their way into the previously apolitical literature of Kennedy assassinologists, ufologists, occultists, and other subcultures, whose wide appeal transmitted these ideas to a large new audience of seekers of alternative views from the mid-1990s on.^[9]

After the turn of the century, specifically during the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, many politicians and pundits, such as Gordon Brown and Henry Kissinger, used the term “new world order” in their advocacy for a reform of the global financial system and their calls for a "New Bretton Woods".^[10][11] These declarations had the unintended consequence of providing fresh fodder for conspiracy theorists, and culminated in former Clinton administration adviser Dick Morris and conservative talk show host Sean Hannity arguing on one of his highly-rated Fox News Channel programs that New World Order conspiracy theorists were right.^[12] Fox News has been repeatedly criticized by progressive media watchdog groups for not only mainstreaming the conspiracist rhetoric of the far right but possibly agitating its lone wolves into action.^[13][14]

[edit] Conspiracy theories

There are numerous secular and religious conspiracy theories through which the concept of a New World Order is viewed. The following is a list of the major ones in relatively chronological order:^[15]

[edit] Illuminati

The Order of the Illuminati was an Enlightenment-era secret society, founded on May 1, 1776, in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt (d. 1830),^[16] who was the first lay professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt.^[17] The movement consisted of militant freethinkers, secularists and republicans recruited in the Masonic Lodges of Germany.^[18] In 1785, the order was infiltrated, broken and suppressed by the Bavarian government for allegedly plotting to overthrow the monarchies and state religions of many European states.^[19]

Since the late 18th century, many reactionary conspiracy theorists speculate that the Illuminati survived their suppression and became the masterminds behind major historical events such as the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution. The Illuminati are believed to be orchestrating a world revolution in order to create a secular humanist, anarcho-communist utopia, but that their permanent reign of terror (mass executions of "enemies of the revolution") would pervert it into a dystopia.

Since the late 20th century, the term "Illuminati" has come to be used by both far-right and far-left conspiracy theorists to describe any pyramid-structured secret society or aristocratic bloodline which they suspect of plotting to rule the world. Some, however, speculate that the Yale University-based fraternity Skull and Bones is in fact an incarnation or continuation of the historical Bavarian Illuminati.^[20]

[edit] Freemasonry

Many Anti-Masons believe that “high-ranking” Freemasons are involved in conspiracies to create an occult New World Order. These conpiracy theorists claim that some of the Founding Fathers of the United States, such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, had Masonic symbolism and sacred geometry interwoven into American society, particularly in the Great Seal of the United States, the one-dollar bill, the architecture of National Mall landmarks, and the streets and highways of Washington, D.C., in order to mystically bind their planning of a government in conformity with the will of the Great Architect of the Universe, whom they believe has tasked the United States with the eventual establishment of an hermetic "Kingdom of God on Earth".^[21]

Freemasons rebut these claims of Masonic conspiracy. They assert that Freemasonry, which promotes natural theology through esotericism, places no power in occult symbols themselves. It is not a part of Freemasonry to view the drawing of symbols, no matter how large, as an act of consolidating or controlling power. Furthermore, there is no published information establishing the Masonic membership of the men responsible for the design of the Great Seal or the street plan of Washington, D.C.^[22][23]

More broadly, Freemasons assert that a long-standing rule within regular Freemasonry is a prohibition on the discussion of politics in a Masonic Lodge and the participation of lodges or Masonic bodies in political pursuits. Freemasonry has no politics, but it teaches its members to be of high moral character and active citizens. The accusation that Freemasonry has a hidden agenda to establish a Masonic government ignores several facts. While agreeing on certain Masonic Landmarks, the many independent and sovereign Grand Lodges act as such, and do not agree on many other points of belief and practice.^[24]

Also, as can be seen from a survey of Freemasons who were great men, individual Freemasons hold beliefs that span the spectrum of politics. The term "Masonic government" has no meaning since individual Freemasons hold many different opinions on what constitutes a good government, and Freemasonry as a body has no opinion on the topic.^[25] Ultimately, Freemasons argue that even if it were proven that influential individuals have used and are using Masonic Lodges to engage in crypto-politics, such as was the case with the illegal Italian Lodge Propaganda Due, this would represent a cooptation of Freemasonry rather than evidence of its hidden agenda.^[26]

[edit] Protocols of the Elders of Zion

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an antisemitic canard, published in 1903, alleging a Judaeo-Masonic conspiracy to achieve world domination. It propagandized the idea that a cabal of Jewish masterminds, which has coopted Freemasonry, is plotting to rule the world on behalf of all Jews because they believe themselves to be the chosen people of God.^[27] The Protocols has been proven by scholars, such as Christian theologian Göran Larsson, to be both a hoax and a clear case of plagiarism. There is general agreement that the Okhrana, the secret police of the Russian Empire, fabricated the text in the late 1890s or early 1900s by plagiarizing it, almost word for word in some passages, from a 19th century satire against Napoleon III of France originally written by Maurice Joly, a French Legitimist.^[28]

Responsible for feeding the antisemitic and anti-Masonic hysterias of the 20th century, The Protocols is widely considered to be influential in the development of other conspiracy theories (such as the notion of a Zionist Occupation Government), and reappears repeatedly in contemporary conspiracy literature. For example, the authors of the 1982 controversial book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail concluded that The Protocols was the most persuasive piece of evidence for the existence and activities of the Priory of Sion. They speculated that this secret society was working behind the scenes to establish a theocratic "United States of Europe" (politically and religiously unified through the imperial cult of a Merovingian sacred king, who occupies both the throne of Europe and the Holy See) which would become the hyperpower of the 21st century.^[29] The Priory of Sion, itself, has been exhaustively debunked by journalists and scholars as a hoax.^[30]

[edit] Round Table

English businessman Cecil Rhodes advocated the British Empire reannexing the United States of America and refoming itself into an "Imperial Federation" to bring about a hyperpower and lasting world peace. In his first will, of 1877, written at the age of 23, he expressed his wish to fund a secret society (known as the Society of the Elect) that would advance this goal:

To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.

In his later wills, a more mature Rhodes abandoned the idea and instead concentrated on what became the Rhodes Scholarship. Its original goal was to foster peace among the great powers by creating a sense of fraternity and a shared world view among future British, American, and German leaders by having enabled them to study for free at the University of Oxford.

British official Lionel George Curtis, architect of the Round Table movement, wrote a book in 1938 called The Commonwealth of God in which he advocated the creation of an Imperial Federation known as the Commonwealth of Nations, which would be presented to Protestant churches as being the work of the Christian God to elicit their support.^[31][32] Prior to the book's publication, Curtis had founded the Royal Institute of International Affairs in June 1919. Two years later its sister organisation, the Council on Foreign Relations, was formed in the U.S.^[33]

Many conspiracy theorists believe that the Council on Foreign Relations (itself alleged to be a front for the international bankers of finance capitalism, as well as, it is claimed, the inspiration for the founding of many globalist think tanks such as the Trilateral Commission) is behind the New World Order conspiracy. They fear that an international banking cabal is planning to eventually subvert the independence of the U.S. by subordinating national sovereignty to a reformed and strengthened World Bank with the United Nations as its cosmopolitan democratic facade.^[34]

American banker David Rockefeller joined the Council on Foreign Relations as its youngest-ever director in 1949 and subsequently became chairman of the board from 1970 to 1985; today he serves as honorary chairman. In 2002, Rockefeller authored his autobiography Memoirs wherein, on page 405, he wrote:

For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents ... to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

Although a copious measure of skepticism should be applied regarging this statement, it is taken at face value and widely cited by conspiracy theorists as proof that the Council of Foreign Relations is the most influential front for the Round Table as a tool of the Anglo-American Establishment plotting from 1900 on to rule the world. The research findings of historian Carroll Quigley, author of the 1966 book Tragedy and Hope, are taken by right-wingers and left-wingers to substantiate this view, even though he argued that the Establishment is involved in a plot to achieve ultra-imperialism rather than world domination.^[35] Although the Round Table still exists today, its position in influencing the policies of world leaders has been much reduced from its heyday during World War I. Today it is largely a ginger group, designed to consider and influence the policies of a powerless Commonwealth of Nations.

Critics argue the Council on Foreign Relations is in fact a mere policy discussion forum which supports a super-imperialist approach to American foreign policy. It has nearly 3,000 members, far too many for secret plans to be kept within the group. All the council does is sponsor discussion groups, debates and speakers. As far as being secretive, it issues annual reports and allows access to its historical archives. Historical studies of the council show that it has a very different role in the overall power structure than what is claimed by conspiracy theorists.^[36]

[edit] Open Conspiracy

In his 1928 book The Open Conspiracy English writer H. G. Wells called for the intelligentsia of the West to organize for the establishment of a global federation of strengthened and democratized global institutions, with plenary constitutional power accountable to global citizens and a division of international authority among separate global agencies, in order to build a world social democracy.^[37]

Wells warned, however, in his 1940 book The New World Order that:

... when the struggle seems to be drifting definitely towards a world social democracy, there may still be very great delays and disappointments before it becomes an efficient and beneficent world system. Countless people ... will hate the new world order ... and will die protesting against it. When we attempt to evaluate its promise, we [must] bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents, many of them quite gallant and graceful-looking people."^[38]

Right-wing critics and conspiracy theorists fear that a world social democracy would eventually enact the principles of world communism, albeit through reformist rather than revolutionary means; while left-wing critics argue that a world social democracy would forever stand in the way of a complete and final transition to world communism.

[edit] Externalization of the Hierarchy

English occultist Alice Bailey, one of the controversial founders of the New Age movement, prophesied in 1940 the eventual victory of the Allies of World War II over the Axis powers (which occured in 1945) and the establishment by the Allies of a political and religious New World Order. She saw a federal world government as the culmination of Wells' Open Conspiracy but argued that it would be synarchist because it was guided by ascended masters, intent on preparing humanity for the mystical second coming of Christ, and the dawn of the Age of Aquarius.^[39]

In 1997, Rabbi Yonassan Gershom, in an article titled "Anti-Semitic Stereotypes in Alice Bailey's Writings," pointed out that Bailey's "Plan for the New World Order", marked by extravagant fantasy, called for "the gradual dissolution - again if in any way possible - of the Orthodox Jewish faith," which, he said, indicated that "her goal is nothing less than the destruction of Judaism itself." This fact is notable since many conspiracy theories tend to portray Jews as the plotters behind the New World Order rather than one of the groups the plotters want to repress in order to create it.^[40]

[edit] End Time

Many millenarian Christian theologians and laymen include a dominant religious element to New World Order conspiracy theory based on prophecies about the "end time" in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Ezekiel, the Book of Daniel, the Olivet discourse found in the Synoptic Gospels, and the Book of Revelation. They assert that human and demonic agents of the Devil are involved in a primordial conspiracy to deceive humanity into accepting a satanic world theocracy that has the Unholy Trinity - Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet - at the core of an imperial cult.

The Late, Great Planet Earth, a 1970 book co-authored by Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson, is a popular treatment of such literalist, premillennial, dispensational Christian eschatology. With its unprecedented popularity, the book set the stage for both greater awareness of end time scenarios in the last decades of the 20th century, and the growth industry in Christian popular eschatological works such as Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series of novels.

Preterist Christian critics of the End Time conspiracy theory argue that some or all of the biblical prophecies concerning the end time refer literally or metaphorically to events which already happened in the first century after Jesus' birth. In their view, the "end time" concept refers to the end of the covenant between God and Israel, rather than the end of time, or the end of planet Earth. They argue that prophecies about the Rapture, the defiling of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the Antichrist, the Number of the Beast, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and the Last Judgment were fulfilled at or about the year 70 when the Roman general (and future Emperor) Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, putting a permanent stop to the daily animal sacrifices.

According to such critics, many passages in the New Testament indicate with apparent certainty that the second coming of Christ, and the end time predicted in the Bible were to take place within the lifetimes of Jesus' disciples rather than millennia later: Matt. 10:23, Matt. 16:28, Matt. 24:34, Matt. 26:64, Rom. 13:11-12, 1 Cor. 7:29-31, 1 Cor. 10:11, Phil. 4:5, James 5:8-9, 1 Pet. 4:7, 1 Jn. 2:18.

[edit] Fourth Reich

Some conspiracy theorists, such as Jim Marrs, argue that some surviving members of Germany's Third Reich, along with sympathizers in the United States and elsewhere, given safe haven by organizations like ODESSA and Die Spinne, have been working behind the scenes since the end of World War II to enact at least some of the principles of Nazism (e.g. military-industrial complex, imperialism, widespread spying on citizens, use of corporations and propaganda to control national interests and ideas) into culture, government, and business worldwide, but primarily in the U.S. They cite the acquisition and creation of conglomerates by Nazis and their sympathizers after the war, in both Europe and the U.S.^[41]

This neo-Nazi conspiracy is said to be animated by an "Iron Dream" in which the U.S. gradually establishes a "Fourth Reich", known as the “Western Imperium”, by imposing a “New Order” - a pan-Aryan world empire encompassing lands with predominantly Aryan populations: Europe, Russia, Anglo-America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern South America.

Critics argue that conspiracy theorists grossly overestimate the influence of Nazis and neo-Nazis on American society by pointing out that American imperialism, corporatocracy and political repression have a long history that predate World War II. Political scientists have expressed concern that the twin forces of democratic deficit and superpower status have paved the way in the U.S. for the emergence of an inverted totalitarianism which contradicts many principles of Nazism.^[42]

[edit] Alien Invasion

Since the late 1970s, aliens (either the "Greys" or the "Reptilians" or both) from other habitable planets or parallel universes or Hollow Earth have been included in the New World Order conspiracy, in more or less dominant roles, as in the theories put forward by American writers Stan Deyo and Milton William Cooper, and British writer David Icke.^[43][44] The common theme in such conspiracy theories is that aliens have been among us for decades, centuries or millennia, but a government cover-up has protected the public from knowledge of an alien invasion. Motivated by speciesism, these aliens have been and are secretly manipulating developments and changes in human society in order to more efficiently control and exploit it. In some theories, alien infiltrators have taken human form and move freely throughout human society, even to the point of taking control of command positions. A mythical covert government agency of the United States code-named Majestic 12 is often cited by conspiracy theorists as being the shadow government which collaborates with the alien occupation, in exchange for assistance in the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems for the militarisation of space.^[45]

Critics argue that the convergence of New World Order conspiracy theory and UFO conspiracy theory is a product of not only the era's widespread mistrust of governments and the popularity of the extraterrestrial hypothesis for unidentified flying objects but of the far right and ufologists actually joining forces. Some note that the only positive side to this development is if conspirators seeking to control the world are believed to be aliens, traditional human scapegoats are exonerated.^[46][47]

[edit] Brave New World

Many neo-luddite or bioconservative conspiracy theorists are on the cutting edge of synthesizing New World Order conpiracy theory with science fiction and futurology. They speculate that the global power elite are reactionary modernists pursuing a transhumanist agenda to develop and use human enhancement technologies in order to become a "posthuman ruling caste", while accelerating change toward a technological singularity — a theorized future point of discontinuity when events will accelerate at such a pace that normal unenhanced humans will be unable to predict or even understand the rapid changes occurring in the world around them. Conspiracy theorists fear the outcome will either be the emergence of a Brave New World-like dystopia or the extinction of the human species.^[48][49]

Transhumanists and singularitarians argue that, regardless of what the agenda of the global power elite might be, they only support developing and making publicly available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities for the common good; as well as taking deliberate action to ensure that the Singularity — the moment when technological progress starts being driven by superintelligence — occurs in a way that is beneficial to humankind.^[50]

[edit] Postulated implementations

Just as there are several overlapping or conflicting theories among conspiracy theorists about the nature of the New World Order, so are there several beliefs about how its architects and planners will implement it:

[edit] Gradualism

Many conspiracy theorists speculate that the New World Order is being implemented gradually, citing the formation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System in 1913; the International Monetary Fund in 1944; the United Nations in 1945; the World Bank in 1945; the World Health Organization in 1948; the European Union and the euro currency in 1993; the World Trade Organization in 1998; and the African Union in 2002 as major milestones.

An increasingly popular conspiracy theory among American paleoconservatives is that the hypothetical North American Union and the amero currency, proposed by the Council on Foreign Relations and their counterparts in Mexico and Canada, will be the next implementation of the New World Order. The theory holds that a group of shadowy and mostly nameless international elites are planning to replace the federal government of the United States with a transnational government. Therefore, conspiracy theorists believe the borders between Mexico, Canada and the United States are in the process of being erased, covertly, by a group of globalists whose ultimate goal is to replace national governments in Washington, D.C., Ottawa and Mexico City with a European-style political union and a bloated EU-style bureaucracy.^[51]

In March 2009, as a result of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, China and Russia have pressed for urgent consideration of a world currency and a UN panel has proposed greatly expanding the IMF's Special Drawing Rights. Conspiracy theorists have interpreted the proposal of a global currency as vindication of their beliefs about an eventual supranational currency for the New World Order.

[edit] Coup d'état and martial law

Some conspiracy theorists, especially those associated with the militia movement, speculate that the New World Order will be implemented by martial law after a dramatic coup d'état by a "secret team", using black helicopters, in the United States and other nation-states to bring about a world government controlled by the United Nations and enforced by UN peacekeepers. Before year 2000 some survivalists believed this process would be set in motion by the predicted Y2K problem causing societal collapse.^[52] Since many conspiracy theorists believe that the September 11 attacks were a false flag operation carried out by the United States intelligence community, as part of a strategy of tension to justify political repression and a permanent war economy, some of them have become convinced that a more catastrophic terrorist incident will be responsible for triggering the process completing the transition to a police state.^[53] They often speculate that the passing of gun control legislation will be later followed by the abolishment of personal gun ownership, and that the refugee camps of emergency management agencies such as FEMA will be used for the internment of suspected subversives, making little effort to distinguish true threats from ideological dissidents.^[54]

[edit] Surveillance-industrial complex

Many secular and religious conspiracy theorists believe that the New World Order will be created by the surveillance-industrial complex, often called "Big Brother", through the use of Social Security numbers, the bar-coding of retail goods with Universal Product Code markings, and, most recently, RFID tagging.^[55][56][57] Some consumer privacy advocates, such as Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, who warn of how corporations and government plan to track every move of consumers and citizens with RFID, have become conspiracy theorists who associate spychips with the Number of the Beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation.^[58]

[edit] Occultism

In Alice Bailey's New Age cosmology, a group of ascended masters called the Great White Brotherhood works on the "inner planes" to oversee humanity's transition to the New World Order. At present, according to Bailey, the members of this Spiritual Hierarchy are only known to a few people, with whom they communicate telepathically, but as the need for their personal involvement in the plan increases, there will be an "Externalization of the Hierarchy" and all people will know of their presence on Earth.^[59]

While some conspiracy theorists are convinced that New World Order conspirators are directed by occult agencies of some sort: unknown superiors, secret societies, spiritual hierarchies, aliens, demons or even Satan, many believe the purpose of the New Age movement Bailey inspired is to subvert the Judeo-Christian foundations of the Western world and create a New World Order through a syncretic world religion, which acts as a potent “opium of the people”. Others simply speculate that, like Nazi occultists, the conspirators are modern Luciferians who cynically use the psychological power of occult knowledge, symbols, rituals and monuments only to advance their political and economic agenda.^[48]

For example, in June 1979, an unknown philantropist under the pseudonym “R. C. Christian” had a huge granite monument built in Georgia, USA., which acts like a compass, calendar, and clock. A message comprising ten guides is inscribed on the occult structure in many languages to serve as instructions for survivors of the predicted 2012 doomsday event to establish a better civilization than the one which was destroyed. The “Georgia Guidestones” have become a mecca for New Agers and a few conspiracy theorists are convinced that they are engraved with the New World Order's “Ten Commandments”. ^[60][61]

[edit] Mind control

Conspiracy theorists often speculate that New World Order conspirators use mind control - a broad range of psychological tactics able to subvert an individual's control of his or her own thinking, behavior, emotions, or decisions - to acheive their goals. These tactics are said to include everything from subliminal advertising to brainwashed sleeper agents (Project MKULTRA, “Operation Monarch”^[62]) to hi-tech psychological warfare (“Silent Sound Spread Spectrum”). Conspiracy theorists often accuse the government and the mainstream media of not only being involved in the manufacture of a national consensus but a culture of fear due to the potential for increased social control that a mistrustful and mutually fearing population might offer to those in power.

Critics argue that the paranoia behind a conspiracy theorist's obsession with mind control, occultism, surveillance abuse, Big Business, Big Government, and globalization arises from a combination of two factors, when he or she: 1) holds strong individualist values and 2) lacks a sense of control. The first attribute refers to people who care deeply about an individual's right to make their own choices and direct their own lives without interference or obligations to a larger system (like the government). But combine this with a sense of powerlessness in one's own life, and one gets what some psychologists call “agency panic”, intense anxiety about an apparent loss of autonomy to outside forces or regulators. When fervent individualists feel that they cannot exercise their independence, they experience a crisis and assume that larger forces are to blame for usurping this freedom.^[63]

[edit] Alleged conspirators

According to G. William Domhoff, a research professor in psychology and sociology who studies theories of power, in the past the conspirators were usually said to be crypto-communist sympathizers who were intent upon bringing the United States under a common world government with the Soviet Union, but the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 undercut that theory. Domhoff notes that most conspiracy theorists changed their focus to the United Nations as the likely controlling force in a New World Order, an idea which is undermined by the powerlessness of the U.N. and the unwillingness of even moderates within the American Establishment to give it anything but a limited role.^[36]

In the controversial 2008 book Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, David Rothkopf argues that the world population of 6 billion people is governed by an elite of 6000 individuals. Until the late 20th century, governments of the great powers provided most of the superclass, accompanied by a few heads of international movements (i.e., the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church) and entrepreneurs (Rothschilds, Rockefellers). According to Rothkopf, in the early 21st century, economic clout — fueled by the explosive expansion of international trade, travel and communication — rules; the nation-state's power has diminished shrinking politicians to minority power broker status; leaders in international business, finance and the defense industry not only dominate the superclass, they move freely into high positions in their nations' governments and back to private life largely beyond the notice of elected legislatures (including the U.S. Congress), which remain abysmally ignorant of affairs beyond their borders. He proposes that the superclass' disproportionate influence over national policy is constructive but always self-interested, and that across the world, few object to corruption and oppressive governments provided they can do business in these countries.^[64]

Conspiracy theorists go further than Rothkopf, and other scholars who have studied the global power elite, by claiming that members of the superclass who belong to the Bilderberg Group, the Bohemian Club, the Club of Rome, the Council on Foreign Relations, Skull and Bones, the Trilateral Commission, and similar think tanks and private clubs, are conspiring to create a bureaucratic collectivist New World Order through the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other international organizations.^[65]

Critics counter the superclass are plutocrats only interested in imposing a neoliberal form of economic globalization through treaties such as the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment, and that most of the cited international organizations are weak, or weakening, and are hemorrhaging credibility.^[66] Although these critics also accuse the global power elite of not having the best interests of all at heart, and many international organizations of suffering from democratic deficit, they point out that conspiracy theorists, blinded by their anti-Marxism, fail to see is that what they demonize as the “New World Order” is, ironically, “Empire” — the highest stage of very capitalist economic system they defend.^[67]

[edit] Criticism

Critics of New World Order conspiracy theories accuse its proponents of indulging in the furtive fallacy, a belief that significant facts of history are necessarily corrupt, and conspiracism, a paranoid world view that centrally places conspiracy theories in the unfolding of history, rather than social and economic forces.

Domhoff writes in a March 2005 essay entitled There Are No Conspiracies:

There are several problems with a conspiratorial view that don't fit with what we know about power structures. First, it assumes that a small handful of wealthy and highly educated people somehow develop an extreme psychological desire for power that leads them to do things that don't fit with the roles they seem to have. For example, that rich capitalists are no longer out to make a profit, but to create a one-world government. Or that elected officials are trying to get the constitution suspended so they can assume dictatorial powers. These kinds of claims go back many decades now, and it is always said that it is really going to happen this time, but it never does. Since these claims have proved wrong dozens of times by now, it makes more sense to assume that leaders act for their usual reasons, such as profit-seeking motives and institutionalized roles as elected officials. Of course they want to make as much money as they can, and be elected by huge margins every time, and that can lead them to do many unsavory things, but nothing in the ballpark of creating a one-world government or suspending the constitution.^[36]

Mark C. Partridge, a contributing editor to the global affairs magazine Diplomatic Courier, writes in a December 2008 news article entitled One World Government: Conspiracy Theory or Inevitable Future?:

I am skeptical that “global governance” could “come much sooner than that [200 years],” as Gideon posits. For one thing, nationalism—the natural counterpoint to global government—is rising. Some leaders and peoples around the world have resented Washington’s chiding and hubris over the past two decade of American unipolarity. Russia has been re-establishing itself as a “great power”; few could miss the national pride on display when China hosted the Beijing Olympics this summer; while Hugo Chavez and his ilk have stoked the national flames with their anti-American rhetoric. The departing of the Bush Administration could cause this nationalism to abate, but economic uncertainty usually has the opposite effect. [...] Another point is that attempts at global government and global agreements have been categorical failures. The WTO’s Doha Round is dead in the water, Kyoto excluded many of the leading polluters and a conference to establish a deal was a failure, and there is a race to the bottom in terms of corporate taxes—rather than an existing global framework. And, where supranational governance structures exist, they are noted for their bureaucracy and inefficiency: The UN has been unable to stop an American-led invasion of Iraq, genocide in Darfur, the slow collapse of Zimbabwe, or Iran’s continued uranium enrichment. That is not to belittle the structure, as I deem it essential, but the system’s flaws are there for all to see.^[68]

Criticisms of New World Order conspiracy theorists also come from within their own community. Despite believing themselves to be “freedom fighters”, many right-wing conspiracy theorists hold views that are incompatible with their professed libertarianism, such as eliminationism, dominionism, and white supremacism. This paradox has led David Icke, who believes Christian Patriots to be the only Americans who understand the truth about the New World Order, to reportedly tell a Christian Patriot group:

I don't know which I dislike more, the world controlled by the Brotherhood, or the one you want to replace it with.

[edit] Further reading

The following is a list of notable published books by New World Order conspiracy theorists:

• Cuddy (1999). Secret Records Revealed: The Men, The Money and The Methods Behind the New World Order. Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd.. ISBN 1-57558-031-4. 
• Abraham, Larry (1988) [1971]. Call it Conspiracy. Double a Publications. ISBN 0-9615550-1-7. 
• Still, William T. (1990). New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies. Huntington House Publishers. ISBN 0-910311-64-1. 
• Cooper, Milton William (1991). Behold a Pale Horse. Light Technology Publications. ISBN 0-929385-22-5. 
• Robertson, Pat (1992). The New World Order. W Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8499-3394-3. 
• Wardner, James (1994) [1993]. The Planned Destruction of America. Longwood Communications. ISBN 0-9632190-5-7. 
• Keith, Jim (1995). Black Helicopters over America: Strikeforce for the New World Order. Illuminet Press. ISBN 1-881532-05-4. 
• Jones, Alan B. (2001) [1997]. Secrecy or Freedom?. ABJ Press. ISBN 0-9640848-2-1. 
• Gray, John (2000) [1998]. False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. New Press. ISBN 1-56584-592-7. 
• Bearden, Tom (2004) [2000]. Energy from the Vacuum: Concepts & Principles. Cheniere Press. ISBN 0-9725146-0-0. 
• Marrs, Jim (2001). Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-093184-1. 
• Lina, Jüri, "Under the Sign of the Scorpion: The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire", Stockholm, 2002 (Second, Enlarged Edition).
• Lina, Jüri. Architects of Deception: the Concealed History of Freemasonry. Stockholm, 2004, originally written in Swedish, title "Världbyggarnas bedrägeri: frimurarnas dolda historia".
• Madisson, Tiit. New World Order: The Concealed Acting of Judaists and Freemasons at Subdueing the World's Nations and Countries, written in Estonian, original title: "Maailma Uus Kord: judaistide ja vabamüürlaste varjatud tegevus rahvaste ning riikide allutamisel". Lihula, 2004.
• Wilson, Robert Anton. Everything is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-Ups. New York: 1998, Harper-Perennial.
• Bollier, David (2005). Brand Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture. Wiley. ISBN 0471679275. 
• Tedford, Cody. Powerful Secrets. Hannover, 2008. ISBN 1-4241-9263-3

[edit] References

v • d • e Conspiracy theories Core topics Conspiracy (civil) · Conspiracy (crime) · Conspiracy (political) · Cabal · List of conspiracy theories · Conspiracy fiction · Conspiracy thriller New World Order theories Bilderberg Group · Council on Foreign Relations · Bohemian Grove · Skull and Bones · Trilateral Commission · Freemasons · Club of Rome · Illuminati · Black helicopters · ODESSA · The Protocols of the Elders of Zion · Judaeo-Masonic-Marxist plot · Eurabia · North American Union · Yellow Peril (East Asian world domination myths)  · Zionism · Antisemitism (conspiracy myth of world Jewish control). False flag theories Sinking of the RMS Lusitania (1915) · Reichstag Fire (1933) · Operation Gladio · USS Liberty incident (1967) · Pan Am Flight 103 (1988) · Russian apartment bombings (Alleged evidence) · Oklahoma City bombing (1995) · Port Arthur Massacre (1996) · TWA Flight 800 (1996)  · 9/11 conspiracy theories (2001) · Madrid Train Bombing (2004) · London Bombings (2005) Assassination theories Eric V of Denmark (1286) · Abraham Lincoln (1865) · Franz Ferdinand (1914) · Phar Lap (1932) · Marilyn Monroe (1962) · John F. Kennedy (1963) · Malcolm X (1965) · Robert F. Kennedy (1968) · Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) · Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil (1976)  · Pope John Paul I (1978) · Olof Palme (1986) · Zia-ul-Haq (1988) · Kurt Cobain (1994) · Yitzhak Rabin (1995) · Diana, Princess of Wales (1997) · David Kelly (2003) · Alexander Litvinenko (2006) · Benazir Bhutto (2007) UFO theory Alien Abduction · Roswell Incident (1947) · Mantell Incident (1948) · Men in Black · Area 51 Other theories Soviet Space Program (1957-1966) · Paul McCartney's death (1966) · Apollo Moon Landing hoax (1969) · Elvis Presley's survival (1977) · Mind Control · AIDS origins · AIDS denialism · CIA drug trafficking · New Coke (1985) · Waco Siege (1993) · SARS (2003) · Reptilian humanoid · Global Warming  · Titanic alternative theories  · Barack Obama's citizenship · Lavender Mafia/Homintern/Gay Mafia · Jesuit conspiracy · Chemtrails · Scottish mafia · Jonestown conspiracy theory · Reconquista (Mexico) Verified conspiracies Dreyfus affair (1894) · Affaire Des Fiches (1904-1905) · Gleiwitz incident (1939) · Watergate (1972) · Project MKULTRA (1975) · Operation Mockingbird · Operation Northwoods · Iran-Contra Affair