"A New World Order is emerging"

That was the quotation from Gordon Brown this past week. He may not have spoken it with capital letters, and he certainly intended it in a benign sense, but to those versed in conventional "conspiracy theory," it's an ominous choice of words.

Historical use of the phrase dates back to the 1940s (Woodrow Wilson, George Orwell) and is well summarized at the Wiki link.

The conspiracy theory interpretation is, of course, more ominous: "...in conspiracy theory, the term "New World Order" (the capital letters are distinguishing) refers to the advent of a cryptocratic or totalitarian world government."

At the core of most theories, a powerful and secretive group of globalists is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an autonomous world government, which would replace sovereign states and other checks and balances in international power struggles. Significant occurrences in politics and business are speculated to be caused by an extremely influential cabal operating through many front organizations. Numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an on-going plot to achieve world domination primarily through secret political gatherings and decision-making processes.

Gordon Brown certainly was referring to the former; it's just a bit disconcerting to hear the phrase used.