There are numerous
systemic conspiracy theories through which the concept of a New World Order is viewed. The following is a list of the major ones in roughly chronological order:
End time Since the 19th century, many
apocalyptic millennial Christian eschatologists, starting with
John Nelson Darby, have predicted a globalist conspiracy to impose a tyrannical New World Order governing structure as the fulfillment of
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,
2 Esdras 11:32 and
Revelation 13:7. They claim that people who have made a
deal with the Devil to gain wealth and power have become pawns in a supernatural chess game to move humanity into accepting a
utopian world government that rests on the spiritual foundations of a
syncretic-
messianic world religion, which will later reveal itself to be a
dystopian world empire that imposes the
imperial cult of an "Unholy Trinity" of
Satan, the
Antichrist and the
False Prophet. In many contemporary Christian conspiracy theories, the False Prophet will be either the last pope of the
Catholic Church (groomed and installed by an
Alta Vendita or
Jesuit conspiracy), a
guru from the
New Age movement, or even the leader of an elite
fundamentalist Christian organization like
the Fellowship, while the Antichrist will be either the
President of the European Union, the
Caliph of a
pan-Islamic state, or even the
Secretary-General of the United Nations. Another critique can be found in historian Gregory S. Camp's 1997 book
Selling Fear: Conspiracy Theories and End-Times Paranoia. while Camp warns of the "very real danger that Christians could pick up some extra spiritual baggage" by credulously embracing conspiracy theories.
Freemasonry Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest secular
fraternal organizations and arose in Great Britain during the 18th century. Over the years, several allegations and conspiracy theories have been directed towards Freemasonry, including the allegation that Freemasons have a hidden
political agenda and are conspiring to bring about a New World Order, a world government organized according to Masonic principles or governed only by Freemasons. Some conspiracy theorists eventually speculated that some
Founding Fathers of the United States, such as
George Washington and
Benjamin Franklin, were having Masonic
sacred geometric designs interwoven into American society, particularly in the
Great Seal of the United States, the
United States one-dollar bill, the architecture of
National Mall landmarks and the
streets and highways of Washington, D.C., as part of a master plan to create the first "Masonic government" as a model for the coming New World Order. Furthermore, there is no published information establishing the Masonic membership of the men responsible for the design of the Great Seal. While conspiracy theorists assert that there are elements of Masonic influence on the Great Seal of the United States and that these elements were intentionally or unintentionally used because the creators were familiar with the symbols, in fact, the all-seeing
Eye of Providence and the unfinished pyramid were symbols used as much outside Masonic lodges as within them in the late 18th century. Therefore, the designers were drawing from common esoteric symbols. The Latin phrase "
novus ordo seclorum", appearing on the reverse side of the Great Seal since 1782 and the back of the one-dollar bill since 1935, translates to "New Order of the Ages", Although the
European continental branch of Freemasonry has organizations that allow political discussion within their Masonic Lodges, Masonic researcher Trevor W. McKeown argues that the accusations ignore several facts. Firstly, the many Grand Lodges are independent and sovereign, meaning they act independently and do not have a common agenda. The points of belief of the various lodges often differ. Secondly, famous Freemasons have always held views that span the political spectrum and show no particular pattern or preference. As such, the term "Masonic government" is erroneous; there is no consensus among Freemasons about what an ideal government would look like.
Illuminati , founder of the
Illuminati, an 18th-century Bavarian liberal and secular secret society The Order of the
Illuminati was an
Enlightenment-age secret society founded by university professor
Adam Weishaupt on 1 May 1776, in
Upper Bavaria, Germany. The movement consisted of advocates of
freethought,
secularism, liberalism,
republicanism, and
gender equality, recruited from the German
Masonic Lodges, who sought to teach
rationalism through
mystery schools. In 1785, the order was infiltrated, broken up, and suppressed by the government agents of
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, in his preemptive campaign to neutralize the threat of secret societies ever becoming hotbeds of conspiracies to overthrow the Bavarian monarchy and its
state religion, Roman Catholicism. There is no evidence that the Bavarian Illuminati survived its suppression in 1785. During the 19th century, fear of an Illuminati conspiracy was a real concern of the European
ruling classes, and their oppressive reactions to this unfounded fear provoked in 1848
the very revolutions they sought to prevent. During the
interwar period of the 20th century,
fascist propagandists, such as British revisionist historian
Nesta Helen Webster and American socialite
Edith Starr Miller, not only popularized the myth of an Illuminati conspiracy but claimed that it was a subversive secret society which served the Jewish elites that supposedly propped up both
finance capitalism and
Soviet communism to
divide and rule the world. American evangelist
Gerald Burton Winrod and other conspiracy theorists within the
fundamentalist Christian movement in the United States—which emerged in the 1910s as a backlash against the principles of Enlightenment
secular humanism,
modernism, and liberalism—became the main channel of dissemination of Illuminati conspiracy theories in the U.S..
Right-wing populists, such as members of the
John Birch Society (JBS), subsequently began speculating that some collegiate fraternities (
Skull and Bones), gentlemen's clubs (
Bohemian Club), and think tanks (
Council on Foreign Relations,
Trilateral Commission) of the
American upper class are
front organizations of the Illuminati, which they accuse of plotting to create a New World Order through a one-world government.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, a series of three satirical novels by American writers
Robert Shea and
Robert Anton Wilson, first published in 1975, which attributed the alleged major
cover-ups of the era – such as
who shot John F. Kennedy – to the Illuminati, was extremely influential in popularizing the myth of an Illuminati superconspiracy during the 1960s and onward.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an
antisemitic canard, originally published in Russian in 1903, alleging a
Judeo-Masonic conspiracy to achieve world domination. The text purports to be the minutes of the secret meetings of a
cabal of Jewish masterminds, which has co-opted
Freemasonry and is plotting to rule the world on behalf of all Jews because they believe themselves to be the
chosen people of God.
The Protocols incorporate many of the core conspiracist themes outlined in the
Robison and
Barruel attacks on the Freemasons and overlay them with antisemitic allegations about anti-
Tsarist movements in Russia.
The Protocols reflect themes similar to more general
critiques of Enlightenment liberalism by
conservative aristocrats who support monarchies and
state religions. The interpretation intended by the publication of
The Protocols is that if one peels away the layers of the
Masonic conspiracy, past the
Illuminati, one finds the rotten Jewish core. Responsible for feeding many
antisemitic and
anti-Masonic mass hysteria of the twentieth century,
The Protocols has been influential in the development of some conspiracy theories, including some New World Order theories, and repeatedly appears in certain contemporary conspiracy literature. Although the Priory of Sion itself has been exhaustively
debunked by journalists and scholars as a hoax, some
apocalyptic millenarian Christian eschatologists who believe
The Protocols is authentic became convinced that the Priory of Sion was a fulfillment of
prophecies found in the
Book of Revelation and further proof of an
anti-Christian conspiracy of epic proportions signaling the imminence of a New World Order. Skeptics argue that the current gambit of contemporary conspiracy theorists who use
The Protocols is to claim that they "really" come from some group other than the Jews, such as
fallen angels or
alien invaders. Although it is hard to determine whether the conspiracy-minded actually believe this or are simply trying to sanitize a discredited text, skeptics argue that it does not make much difference, since they leave the actual, antisemitic text unchanged, giving
The Protocols credibility and circulation. Rhodes also concentrated on the
Rhodes Scholarship, which had British statesman
Alfred Milner as one of its trustees. Established in 1902, the original goal of the trust fund 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. Milner and British official
Lionel George Curtis were the architects of the
Round Table movement, a network of organizations promoting closer union between Britain and its
self-governing colonies. To this end, Curtis founded the
Royal Institute of International Affairs in June 1919 and, with his 1938 book
The Commonwealth of God, began advocating for the creation of an imperial federation that eventually reannexes the U.S., which would be presented to
Protestant churches as being the work of the
Christian God to elicit their support. The
Commonwealth of Nations was created in 1949, but it would only be a free association of independent states rather than the powerful imperial federation imagined by Rhodes, Milner, and Curtis. The
Council on Foreign Relations began in 1917 with a group of New York academics who were asked by President
Woodrow Wilson to offer options for the
foreign policy of the United States in the
interwar period. Originally envisioned as a group of American and British scholars and diplomats, some of whom belonging to the Round Table movement, it was a subsequent group of 108 New York financiers, manufacturers, and international lawyers organized in June 1918 by Nobel Peace Prize recipient and U.S. secretary of state
Elihu Root, that became the Council on Foreign Relations on 29 July 1921. The first of the council's projects was a quarterly journal launched in September 1922, called
Foreign Affairs. The
Trilateral Commission was founded in July 1973, at the initiative of American banker
David Rockefeller, who was chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations at that time. It is a private organization established to foster closer cooperation among the United States, Europe, and Japan. The Trilateral Commission is widely seen as a counterpart to the Council on Foreign Relations. In the 1960s,
right-wing populist individuals and groups with a
paleoconservative worldview, such as members of the
John Birch Society, were the first to combine and spread a
business nationalist critique of
corporate internationalists networked through think tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations with a grand conspiracy theory casting them as
front organizations for the Round Table of the "Anglo-American
Establishment", which are financed by an "international banking cabal" that has supposedly been plotting from the late 19th century on to impose an
oligarchic new world order through a
global financial system. Anti-
globalist conspiracy theorists therefore fear that international bankers are planning to eventually subvert the independence of the U.S. by subordinating national
sovereignty to a strengthened
Bank for International Settlements. The research findings of historian
Carroll Quigley, author of the 1966 book
Tragedy and Hope, are taken by both conspiracy theorists of the American
Old Right (
W. Cleon Skousen) and
New Left (
Carl Oglesby) to substantiate this view, even though Quigley argued that the Establishment is not involved in a plot to implement a one-world government but rather
British and
American "benevolent imperialism" driven by the mutual interests of economic elites in the United Kingdom and the United States. Quigley also argued that, 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 and slowly waned after the end of
World War II and the
Suez Crisis. Today the Round Table is largely a
ginger group, designed to consider and gradually influence the policies of the
Commonwealth of Nations, but faces strong opposition. Furthermore, in American society after 1965, the problem, according to Quigley, was that no elite was in charge and acting responsibly. In his 2002 autobiography
Memoirs, David Rockefeller wrote: Barkun argues that this statement is partly facetious (the claim of "conspiracy" and "
treason") and partly serious—the desire to encourage trilateral cooperation among the U.S., Europe, and Japan; for example — an ideal that used to be a hallmark of the
internationalist wing of the
Republican Party (known as "
Rockefeller Republicans" in honor of
Nelson Rockefeller) when there was an internationalist wing. The statement, however, is taken at face value and widely cited by conspiracy theorists as proof that the Council on Foreign Relations uses its role as the
brain trust of American presidents, senators and representatives to manipulate them into supporting a New World Order in the form of a one-world government. In a 13 November 2007 interview with Canadian journalist Benjamin Fulford, Rockefeller countered that he felt no need for a world government and wished for the world's governments to work together and collaborate. He also stated that it seemed neither likely nor desirable to have only one elected government rule worldwide. He criticized accusations of him being "ruler of the world" as nonsensical. Some American
social critics, such as Laurence H. Shoup, argue that the Council on Foreign Relations is an "
imperial brain trust" which has, for decades, played a central behind-the-scenes role in shaping U.S. foreign policy choices for the post-World War II international order and the
Cold War by determining what options show up on the
agenda and what options do not even make it to the table; others, such as
G. William Domhoff, argue that it is in fact a mere policy discussion forum which provides the business
input to U.S. foreign policy planning. Domhoff argues that "[i]t 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." However, all these critics agree that "[h]istorical studies of the CFR show that it has a very different role in the overall power structure than what is claimed by conspiracy theorists." Wells warned, however, in his 1940 book
The New World Order that: Wells's books were influential in giving a second meaning to the term "
new world order", which would only be used by
state socialist supporters and
anti-communist opponents. However, despite the popularity and notoriety of his ideas, Wells failed to exert a deeper and more lasting influence because he was unable to concentrate his energies on a direct appeal to
intelligentsias who would, ultimately, have to coordinate the Wellsian new world order.
New Age British
neo-Theosophical occultist
Alice Bailey, one of the founders of the so-called
New Age movement, prophesied in 1940 the eventual victory of the
Allies of World War II over the
Axis powers (which occurred 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 favorably argued that it would be
synarchist because it was guided by the
Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, intent on preparing humanity for the
mystical second coming of Christ, and the dawning of the
Age of Aquarius. According to Bailey, a group of ascended masters called the
Great White Brotherhood works on the "
inner planes" to oversee the transition to the New World Order but, for now, the members of this
Spiritual Hierarchy are only known to a few occult scientists, 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 everyone will know of their presence on Earth. Bailey's writings, along with American writer
Marilyn Ferguson's 1980 book
The Aquarian Conspiracy, contributed to conspiracy theorists of the
Christian right viewing the New Age movement as the "
false religion" that would
supersede Christianity in a New World Order. Skeptics argue that the term "New Age movement" is a misnomer, generally used by conspiracy theorists as a catch-all rubric for any
new religious movement that is not
fundamentalist Christian. By this logic, anything that is not Christian is by definition actively and willfully
anti-Christian. Paradoxically, since the first decade of the 21st century, New World Order conspiracism is increasingly being embraced and propagandized by New Age
occultists, who are people bored by
rationalism and drawn to
stigmatized knowledge—such as
alternative medicine,
astrology,
quantum mysticism,
spiritualism, and
theosophy.
Fourth Reich claimed that former Nazis and their sympathizers had been continuing Nazi policies worldwide, especially in the United States. Conspiracy theorists often use the term "
Fourth Reich" simply as a pejorative synonym for the "New World Order" to imply that its state ideology and government will be similar to Germany's
Third Reich. Conspiracy theorists, such as American writer
Jim Marrs, claim that some
ex-Nazis, who survived the fall of the
Greater German Reich, along with sympathizers in the United States and elsewhere, given haven by organizations like
ODESSA and
Die Spinne, has been working behind the scenes since the end of
World War II to enact at least some principles of
Nazism (e.g.,
militarism,
imperialism,
widespread spying on citizens,
corporatism, the use of
propaganda to manufacture a national consensus) into culture, government, and business worldwide, but primarily in the U.S. They cite the influence of ex-Nazi scientists brought in under
Operation Paperclip to help advance aerospace manufacturing in the U.S. with technological principles from
Nazi UFOs, and the acquisition and creation of
conglomerates by ex-Nazis and their sympathizers after the war, in both Europe and the U.S. This
neo-Nazi conspiracy is said to be animated by an "Iron Dream" in which the
American Empire, having thwarted the
Judeo-Masonic conspiracy and overthrown its
Zionist Occupation Government, gradually establishes a Fourth Reich formerly known as the "Western Imperium"—a
pan-
Aryan world empire modeled after
Adolf Hitler's
New Order—which reverses the "
decline of the West" and ushers a golden age of
white supremacy. Skeptics argue that conspiracy theorists grossly overestimate the influence of ex-Nazis and neo-Nazis on American society and point out that
political repression at home and
imperialism abroad have a long history in the United States that predates the 20th century. Political theorist
Sheldon Wolin has 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.
Alien invasion Since the late 1970s,
extraterrestrials from other
habitable planets or
parallel dimensions (such as "
Greys") and intraterrestrials from
Hollow Earth (such as "
Reptilians") 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.
Democratic transhumanists, such as American sociologist
James Hughes, counter that many influential members of the United States establishment are
bioconservatives strongly opposed to
human enhancement, as demonstrated by
President Bush's Council on Bioethics's proposed international treaty prohibiting
human cloning and
germline engineering. Furthermore, he argues that conspiracy theorists underestimate how fringe the transhumanist movement really is. ==Postulated implementations==