The ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ (NWO) is a term often used in conspiracy theories which speculate about a secretly emerging totalitarian ◼◼◼◼◼ government. The common theme in conspiracy theories about a ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the ◼◼◼◼◼ through an authoritarian one-◼◼◼◼◼ government—which will replace sovereign nation-states—and an all-encompassing propaganda whose ideology hails the establishment of the ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ as the culmination of history's progress. Many influential historical and contemporary figures have therefore been alleged to be part of a cabal that operates through numerous front organizations to orchestrate significant political and financial events, including taking advantage of crises or even causing them in ◼◼◼◼◼ to push through controversial policies at both national and international levels, as steps in an ongoing plot to achieve ◼◼◼◼◼ domination. Before the early 1990s, ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ conspiracism was limited to two American countercultures, primarily the militantly anti-government right, and secondarily the part of fundamentalist Christianity concerned with the eschatological end-time emergence of the Antichrist. Academics who study conspiracy theories and religious extremism, such as Michael Barkun and Chip Berlet, observed that right-wing populist conspiracy theories about a ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ not only have been embraced by many seekers of stigmatized knowledge but also have seeped into popular culture, thereby fueling a surge of interest and participation in survivalism and paramilitarism as many people actively prepare for apocalyptic and millenarian scenarios. These political scientists warn that mass hysteria over ◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼◼ conspiracy theories could eventually have devastating effects on American political life, ranging from escalating lone wolf terrorism to the rise to power of authoritarian ultranationalist demagogues.