Conspiracy theories — hypotheses claiming that historical events could have occurred due to the nefarious actions by hidden parties — still remain largely neglected by researchers and considered as implausible and irrelevant.

On the other hand, conspiracy theories usually attract a lot of attention from a wide array of people, prompting heated debate on issues ranging from the world's shadow government to the chances of an alien invasion taking place. While most researchers do not take these theories seriously, some scholars insist that they do deserve attention.

The "cryptocracy," or shadow government, concept is one of the most popular. According to this belief, real and actual political power does not reside with democratically elected public representatives, but with an elite set of individuals who exercise power behind the scenes.