Editing Conspiracy

{{Short description|Secret agreement for unlawful or harmful purposes}}
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{{Distinguish|Conspiracy theory}}
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[[File:The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators, 1605 from NPG.jpg|thumb|230px|right|Illustration of the conspirators in the [[Gunpowder Plot]], a secret plan devised in 1605 to blow up the [[Parliament of England]].<ref name="Sharpe 2005">{{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=James A. |author-link=James Sharpe (historian) |year=2005 |chapter=The Evil Empire and The Enemy Within |title=Remember, Remember: A Cultural History of Guy Fawkes Day |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |pages=1–37 |isbn=9780674019355}}</ref> The plot was a failed attempt at [[regicide]] against [[James VI and I|King James I]] by a group of [[English Catholics]].<ref name="Sharpe 2005"/>]]

A '''conspiracy''', also known as a '''plot''', '''ploy''', or '''scheme''', is a secret plan or agreement between people (called '''conspirers''' or '''conspirators''') for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as [[murder]], [[treason]], or [[corruption]], especially with a political motivation,<ref>''Collins Dictionary'': [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/pt/dictionary/english/conspiracy conspiracy]</ref> while keeping their agreement [[secret]] from the public or from other people affected by it. In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of subverting established [[political power]] structures. This can take the form of usurping or altering them, or even continually illegally profiteering from certain activities in a way that weakens the establishment with help from various political authorities. Depending on the circumstances, a conspiracy may also be a [[crime]] or a [[civil wrong]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspiracy |title=Conspiracy |publisher=merriam-webster.com |access-date=December 27, 2017}}</ref> The term generally connotes, or implies, wrongdoing or illegality on the part of the conspirators, as it is commonly believed that people would not need to conspire to engage in activities that were lawful and ethical, or to which no one would object.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/conspiracy | title=Conspiracy Definition & Meaning }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/conspiracy | title=Conspiracy }}</ref>

There are some coordinated activities that people engage in with secrecy that are not generally thought of as conspiracies. For example, intelligence agencies such as the American [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and the British [[Secret Intelligence Service|MI6]] necessarily make plans in secret to spy on suspected enemies of their respective countries and the general populace of its home countries, but this kind of activity is generally not considered to be a conspiracy so long as their goal is to fulfill their official functions, and not something like improperly enriching themselves.<ref name="Knight">Peter Knight, ''Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia'' (2003), p. 15-16.</ref> Similarly, the coaches of competing sports teams routinely meet behind closed doors to plan game strategies and specific plays designed to defeat their opponents, but this activity is not considered a conspiracy because this is considered a legitimate part of the sport. Furthermore, a conspiracy must be engaged in knowingly. The continuation of social traditions that work to the advantage of certain groups and to the disadvantage of certain other groups, though possibly unethical, is not a conspiracy if participants in the practice are not carrying it forward for the purpose of perpetuating this advantage.<ref name="Knight" />

On the other hand, if the intent of carrying out a conspiracy exists, then there is a conspiracy even if the details are never agreed to aloud by the participants.<ref name="Knight" /> CIA [[covert operation]]s, for instance, are by their very nature hard to prove definitively, but research into the agency's work, as well as revelations by former CIA employees, has suggested several cases where the agency tried to influence events.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36303327 Four more ways the CIA has meddled in Africa]. [[BBC]], 17 May 2016.</ref> During the [[Cold War]], the United States tried to covertly change other nations' governments 66 times, succeeding in 26 cases.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/23/the-cia-says-russia-hacked-the-u-s-election-here-are-6-things-to-learn-from-cold-war-attempts-to-change-regimes/ The U.S. tried to change other countries' governments 72 times during the Cold War]. By Lindsey A. O'Rourke. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', December 23, 2016</ref>

A "[[conspiracy theory]]" is a belief that a conspiracy has actually been decisive in producing a political event of which the theorists strongly disapprove.<ref>Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, ''American Conspiracy Theories'' (2014) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199351813/ref=rdr_ext_tmb excerpt]</ref> [[List of conspiracy theories|Conspiracy theories]] tend to be internally consistent and correlate with each other;<ref>{{cite journal |author1-last=Douglas |author1-first=Karen M. |author2-last=Sutton |author2-first=Robbie M. |date=January 2023 |title=What Are Conspiracy Theories? A Definitional Approach to Their Correlates, Consequences, and Communication |editor-last=Fiske |editor-first=Susan T. |editor-link=Susan Fiske |journal=[[Annual Review of Psychology]] |publisher=[[Annual Reviews (publisher)|Annual Reviews]] |volume=74 |pages=271–298 |doi=10.1146/annurev-psych-032420-031329 |doi-access=free |issn=1545-2085 |oclc=909903176 |pmid=36170672 |s2cid=252597317|url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/96266/15/annurev-psych-032420-031329.pdf }}</ref> they are generally designed to resist [[Falsifiability|falsification]] either by evidence against them or a lack of evidence for them.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Douglas |first1=Karen M. |last2=Sutton |first2=Robbie M. |date=12 April 2011 |title=Does it take one to know one? Endorsement of conspiracy theories is influenced by personal willingness to conspire |url=http://kar.kent.ac.uk/26187/1/Douglas%20%26%20Sutton%202011%20BJSP.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[British Journal of Social Psychology]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] on behalf of the [[British Psychological Society]] |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=544–552 |doi=10.1111/j.2044-8309.2010.02018.x |issn=2044-8309 |lccn=81642357 |oclc=475047529 |pmid=21486312 |s2cid=7318352 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103180834/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/26187/1/Douglas%20%26%20Sutton%202011%20BJSP.pdf |archive-date=3 November 2018 |access-date=8 May 2024}}</ref> Political scientist [[Michael Barkun]] has described conspiracy theories as relying on the view that the universe is governed by design, and embody three principles: nothing happens by accident, nothing is as it seems, and everything is connected.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barkun|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Barkun|title=A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America|date=2003|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cultureconspirac00bark_286/page/n51 3]–4|title-link=A Culture of Conspiracy}}</ref> Another common feature is that conspiracy theories evolve to incorporate whatever evidence exists against them, so that they become, as Barkun writes, a closed system that is [[Falsifiability|unfalsifiable]], and therefore "a matter of faith rather than proof."{{sfn|Barkun|2003|p=7}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barkun|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Barkun|title=Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland Security Since 9/11|url=https://archive.org/details/chasingphantomsr11bark_755|url-access=limited|date=2011|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|page=[https://archive.org/details/chasingphantomsr11bark_755/page/n30 10]|isbn=9780807834701 }}</ref><ref>[https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/20/mapped-the-7-governments-the-u-s-has-overthrown/ Mapped: The 7 Governments the U.S. Has Overthrown]. Yes, we now have confirmation that the CIA was behind Iran's 1953 coup. But the agency hardly stopped there. By J. Dana Stuster. ''[[Foreign Policy]]'', August 20, 2013.</ref>

== Etymology ==
''Conspiracy'' comes from the Latin word ''conspiratio''. While ''conspiratio'' can mean "plot" or "conspiracy", it can also be translated as "unity" and "agreement", in the context of a group an example of this "Kirri and Adele commenced the conspiracy at the secret thursday gin meeting".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?lemma=CONSPIRATIO100 |title=Conspiratio |website=ONLINE LATIN DICTIONARY |publisher=Olivetti Media Communication |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> ''Conspiratio'' comes from ''conspiro'' which, while still meaning "conspiracy" in the modern sense, also means "I sing in unison", as ''con''- means "with" or "together", and ''spiro'' means "I breathe", literally meaning "I breathe together with others".

== Types of conspiracies ==
* [[Conspiracy (civil)]], an agreement between people to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of their legal rights or to gain an unfair advantage.
* [[Conspiracy (criminal)]], an agreement between people to break the law in the future, in some cases having committed an act to further that agreement.
* [[List of political conspiracies|Conspiracy (political)]], an agreement between people with the goal of gaining political power or meeting a political objective.
* [[Hub-and-spoke conspiracy]], a conspiracy in which one or more principal conspirators (the "hub") enter into several similar agreements with others (the "spokes") who know concerted action is contemplated, usually where the success of the concerted action depends on the participation of the other spokes.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Conspiracies}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}

{{Plots and conspiracies}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Conspiracy| ]]