New World Order

<div class="dablink" >This article is about the use of the term New World Order in conspiracy theory. For other uses, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(disambiguation)" title="New World Order (disambiguation)" class="mw-redirect" >New World Order</a>.</div>

The reverse side of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seal_of_the_United_States" title="Great Seal of the United States" >Great Seal of the United States</a> (1776). The Latin phrase "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novus_ordo_seclorum" title="Novus ordo seclorum" >novus ordo seclorum</a>", appearing on the reverse side of the Great Seal since 1782 and on the back of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-dollar_bill" title="United States one-dollar bill" >U.S. one-dollar bill</a> since 1935, means "New Order of the Ages" and only alludes to the beginning of an era where the United States of America is an independent nation-state, but is often mistranslated by conspiracy theorists as "New World Order".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Lewis_and_Short-0" >[1]</a></div>

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In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory" title="Conspiracy theory" >conspiracy theory</a>, the term New World Order or NWO refers to the emergence of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism" title="Totalitarianism" >totalitarian</a>one-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_government" title="World government" >world government</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Camp_1997-1" >[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Berlet_and_Lyons_2000-2" >[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Goldberg_2001-3" >[4]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Barkun_2003-4" >[5]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Fenster_2008-5" >[6]</a>

The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_elite" title="Power elite" class="mw-redirect" >power elite</a> with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalism" title="Globalism" >globalist</a> agenda is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracies_(political)" title="List of conspiracies (political)" >conspiring</a> to eventually rule the world through an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism" title="Authoritarianism" >authoritarian</a> world government—which replaces <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty" title="Sovereignty" >sovereign</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state" title="Nation state" >nation-states</a>—and an all-encompassing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda" >propaganda</a> that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology" title="Ideology" >ideologizes</a> its establishment as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_history#Social_evolutionism" title="Philosophy of history" >culmination of history's progress</a>.

Significant occurrences in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics" title="Politics" >politics</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_capitalism" title="Financial capitalism" >finance</a> are speculated to be orchestrated by an unduly influential <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabal" title="Cabal" >cabal</a>

operating through many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_organization" title="Front organization" >front organizations</a>. Numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an on-going plot to achieve world domination through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke-filled_room" title="Smoke-filled room" >secret political gatherings</a> and decision-making processes.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Camp_1997-1" >[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Berlet_and_Lyons_2000-2" >[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Goldberg_2001-3" >[4]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Barkun_2003-4" >[5]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Fenster_2008-5" >[6]</a>

Prior to the early 1990s, New World Order <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracism" title="Conspiracism" class="mw-redirect" >conspiracism</a> was limited to two American countercultures, primarily the

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_movement" title="Patriot movement" >militantly anti-government right</a>, and secondarily <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Christianity" title="Fundamentalist Christianity" class="mw-redirect" >fundamentalist Christians</a> concerned with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_time" title="End time" >end-time</a> emergence of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist" title="Antichrist" >Antichrist</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-New_Internationalist_1_2004-6" >[7]</a>

Skeptics, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Barkun" title="Michael Barkun" >Michael Barkun</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Berlet" title="Chip Berlet" >Chip Berlet</a>, have observed that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_populism" title="Right-wing populism" >right-wing populist</a> conspiracy theories about a New World Order have now not only been embraced by many seekers of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigmatized_knowledge" title="Stigmatized knowledge" class="mw-redirect" >stigmatized knowledge</a> but have seeped into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture" title="Popular culture" >popular culture</a>, thereby inaugurating an unrivaled period of people actively preparing for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypticism" title="Apocalypticism" >apocalyptic</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenarianism" title="Millenarianism" >millenarian</a> scenarios in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" >United States</a> of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Berlet_and_Lyons_2000-2" >[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Barkun_2003-4" >[5]</a> These political scientists are concerned that this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria" title="Mass hysteria" >mass hysteria</a> could have what they judge to be devastating effects on American political life, ranging from widespread <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_alienation" title="Political alienation" >political alienation</a> to escalating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_wolf(terrorism)" title="Lone wolf (terrorism)" >lone-wolf terrorism</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Berlet_and_Lyons_2000-2" >[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)#cite_note-Barkun_2003-4" >[5]</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theorists" title="Conspiracy theorists" class="mw-redirect" >Conspiracy theorists</a> have long associated Freemasonry with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)" title="New World Order (conspiracy theory)" >New World Order</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati" title="Illuminati" >Illuminati</a>, and state that Freemasonry as an organisation is either bent on world domination or already secretly in control of world politics.

Historically, Freemasonry has attracted criticism – and suppression – from both the politically <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_right" title="Far right" class="mw-redirect" >extreme right</a> (e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany" >Nazi Germany</a>)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#cite_note-91" >[92]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#cite_note-92" >[93]</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_left" title="Far left" class="mw-redirect" >extreme left</a>

(e.g. the former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist" title="Communist" class="mw-redirect" >Communist</a> states in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe" title="Eastern Europe" >Eastern Europe</a>).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#cite_note-Communist-69" >[70]</a>

The fraternity has met with approval for supposedly founding, and opposition for supposedly thwarting, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_democracy" title="Liberal democracy" >liberal democracy</a> (such as in the United States of America).

New World Order

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