So this is going to be like a college course, hence the capitalization, as in "Women's Studies", i.e., its not about Women and it doesn't involve Studying.
The definition of conspiracy is that of a group of people knowingly and in secret planning together to achieve a goal. Yet, whenever some great event occurs, which clearly common sense tells us must be the work of a group of people working in unity, the resultant investigation never produces the culprits who, like McCavity, are never there. The investigation is thus labelled a cover-up, the conspiracy is thus widening, until, again common sense tells us that no way could this number of people secretly conspire and thus our original conclusion must have been wrong. Public interest evaporates until the next Big One.
Interestingly, because of this pathology, crying "Conspiracy Theorist" at anyone questioning the goals and motives of an orgainisation becomes a useful defense. One minute your closing in on your prey, about to reach you peroration to expose the plan of the group as being counter to the public good when suddenly the target utters the phrase, "Oh, thats so silly, that implies a conspiracy of such magnitude that..." and you've lost your audience. No one wants to follow the implications or ramifications of the arguments and logic anymore. No one wants to be painted with the Lone Crackpot anymore.
And yet, something tells us that large groups of people and organisations can operate with exquisite precison despite none of the participants knowing the goal. Its an area of theoretical mathematics called variously, Chaos Theory, Fractals, Iterated Function Systems, etc.
More accessibly its known as the Dilbert Effect.
This is best described by example. Assemble a committe of the best and the brightest of the community. Tell them they are to be paid expenses and expected to work only part time for a few months to solve a pressing public problem, a Blue Ribbon Committee. At their first meeting tell them what the problem is. They are to disolve the Blue Ribbon Committee. Now you know as well as I do that that will never happen. In fact, three years from now there will be subcommittees of the BRC, to solve the various subproblems which have come up in closing themselves down. Any organisation, for whatever purpose it is set up ultimately gravitates to the same goal, its own self perpetuation.