Lincoln stated Douglas's popular sovereignty theory was a threat to the nation's morality and that Douglas represented a conspiracy to extend slavery to free states.

* New World Order ( conspiracy theory )

The term " conspiracy theory " is used to indicate a narrative genre that includes a broad selection of ( not necessarily related ) arguments for the existence of grand conspiracies.

A proven conspiracy theory, such as the notion that Nixon and his aides were behind the Watergate break-in and cover-up, is usually referred to as something else, such as investigative journalism or historical analysis.

The political scientist Michael Barkun discussing the usage of this term in contemporary American culture holds that a conspiracy theory is a belief which explains an event as the result of a secret plot by exceptionally powerful and cunning conspirators to achieve a malevolent end.

Noam Chomsky, linguist and scholar, contrasts conspiracy theory as more or less the opposite of institutional analysis, which focuses mostly on the public, long-term behaviour of publicly known institutions, as recorded in, for example, scholarly documents or mainstream media reports, rather than secretive coalitions of individuals.

The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use of the phrase " conspiracy theory " to a 1909 article in The American Historical Review .< ref >" conspiracy ", Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition, 1989 ; online version March 2012.

It was at least more plausible that the conspiracy theory of Mr. Charles Beade, ..."

" But if conspiracies exist, they rarely move history ; they make a difference at the margins from time to time, but with the unforeseen consequences of a logic outside the control of their authors: and this is what is wrong with ' conspiracy theory.

Clare Birchall at the University of Kent describes conspiracy theory as a form of popular knowledge.

By giving it the title ' knowledge ', conspiracy theory is considered alongside more ' legitimate ' modes of knowing.

The relationship between legitimate and illegitimate knowledges, Birchall claims, is far closer than common dismissals of conspiracy theory would have us believe.

According to some psychologists, a person who believes in one conspiracy theory tends to believe in others ; a person who does not believe in one conspiracy theory tends not to believe another.

In a context where a conspiracy theory has become popular within a social group, communal reinforcement may equally play a part.

Recent empirical research has lent support to the theory that psychological projection plays a role in conspiracy belief.

For some individuals, an obsessive compulsion to believe, prove, or re-tell a conspiracy theory may indicate one or a combination of well-understood psychological conditions, and other hypothetical ones: paranoia, denial, schizophrenia, mean world syndrome.

Likewise, Roger Cohen, in an op-Ed for the New York Times propounded that, " captive minds ... resort to conspiracy theory because it is the ultimate refuge of the powerless.

Where responsible behavior is prevented by social conditions, or is simply beyond the ability of an individual, the conspiracy theory facilitates the emotional discharge or closure that such emotional challenges ( after Erving Goffman ) require.

Bruno Latour suggests that the widespread popularity of conspiracy theories in mass culture may be due, in part, to the pervasive presence of Marxist-inspired critical theory and similar ideas in academia since the 1970s.

Into the vacuum of that loss of belief falls explanation by conspiracy theory.

In 1998, Wilson published an encyclopedia of conspiracy theories called Everything is Under Control, which explains the origins of many of the theories mentioned in Illuminatus !.

Lord Summerisle explains to Howie that he was lured to Summerisle by the islanders, who have been successful in a conspiracy to lead him to believe that a missing girl was being held captive, and confirms to him that last year's harvest failed disastrously.

In a Letterist FAQ published in the first issue of Lemaître ’ s journal, Ur, CP-Matricon explains: ' The letterists do not create scandals: they break the conspiracy of silence set up by pusillanimous show-offs ( journalists ) and smash the faces of those who don ’ t please them.

In the Afterword, where Vidal explains the extent to which his novel is true to fact, he writes, " As David's life is largely unknown until Booth's conspiracy, I have invented a low-life for him.

Hofmeister telephones his former superior Inspector Karl Lohmann ( Otto Wernicke ) and explains frantically that he has discovered a huge criminal conspiracy.

The conspiracy is held to be responsible for a limited, discrete event or set of events.

Connected with pareidolia, the genetic tendency of human beings to find patterns in coincidence, this allows the discovery of conspiracy in any significant event.

In the criminal justice system, actual conspiracies and conspiracy theories can also be distinguished by scale, as actual conspiracies are usually small in scale and involve " a single event or issue.

Another major conspiracy was the Babington Plot-the event which most directly led to Mary's execution, the discovery of which involved a double agent Gilbert Gifford acting under the direction of Francis Walsingham, the Queen's highly effective spy master.

The last known event of this sort was the destruction of the Duke of Aveiro's palace in Lisbon in 1759, due to his participation in the Távora affair ( a conspiracy against King Joseph I of Portugal ).

Determined to stop the persecution and to get protestantism officially recognized, a group of gentlemen planned to overthrow the government and to give the power to the princes de sang, supporters of the new religion, during the event called the Amboise conspiracy.

Real cover-ups are common enough, but any event which is not completely clear is likely to give rise to a thicket of conspiracy theories alleging covering up of sometimes the most weird and unlikely conspiracies.

In the years after the event, Kerensky described the affair as a right wing conspiracy that "... developed slowly, systematically, with cool calculation of all the factors involved affecting its possible success or failure.

This event might have been progressively forgotten, had it not initiated a chain of events which turned it, and its perpetrator, into a symbol representing the end of the conspiracy of silence which since 1915 had surrounded the Armenian Genocide.

This event was taken very seriously by the Athenian people as it was considered a bad omen for the expedition, as well as evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy to overthrow the government.

At any event, whether or not he indulged in an unsuccessful conspiracy, Aureolus does seem to have lost the confidence of Gallienus as a result of his failure to destroy Postumus in Gaul even though he was not brought to trial nor dismissed the Imperial service for that direlection of duty.

This particular event caused a furore behind the scenes when Mike Edison wrote a " crazed conspiracy rant " about Jon Spencer being replaced with Tom Waits for the Blues Explosion website.

This uncharacteristic event in turn partially exposes his conspiracy to his good friend a fellow general who becomes part of the intrigue and willing co-conspirator thereafter.

A conspiracy to assassinate Caligula and replace him with his uncle, Claudius, had been in discussion for some time and that day had been decided for the event.

The other event that also fuelled the so called " Igbo conspiracy " was the killing of Northern leaders, and the killing of the Colonel Shodeinde's pregnant wife by the coup executioners.

Spies is remembered as one of the anarchist leaders in Chicago who were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder following a bomb attack on police in an event remembered as the Haymarket affair.

The protagonist, Winston Smith, secretly hates the Party and Big Brother ; in the event, he approaches O ’ Brien, a high-level member of the Inner Party, believing him part of the Brotherhood, Goldstein's conspiracy against Oceania, Big Brother, and the Party.

The novel parallels the real life assassination of John F. Kennedy and the various conspiracy theories that surround the event.

These events are also the inspiration behind conspiracy theories NBA Commissioner David Stern has rigged multiple NBA drafts, most notably the infamous " Ewing to New York " inaugural draft, Rose overcoming impossible " odds " to join his hometown team Chicago, and the Cavaliers earning the top pick the very season after losing Lebron James ; an event which Timberwolves GM David Kahn called " completely batshit retarded ".

There are conspiracy theories surrounding this event, based on the series of events that followed the air crash.

From that point on, " Bradburn became increasingly obsessed about the Anglo-Americans and their intentions, believing that every event was part of a conspiracy to detach Texas.

In any event, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin received five years for his role in the conspiracy, and the others were dealt from one to ten year sentences.

He died while attempting to kidnap King James VI in August 1600, during an event later known as the Gowrie conspiracy.