They field far fewer ques tions about the systemic causes of trends and events.
People study the membership of some rogue group.
They ignore the structure of government and corporations. A prime example is to explain Irancontra as the secret rogue actions of Oliver North and co-conspirators. A conspiracy theory of Karen Silkwood's murder would uncover the names of people who secretly planned and carried out the murder. Bending usage, we could even imagine a conspiracy theory of patriarchy as men uniting to deny women status, or a conspiracy theory of the U.S. government as competing groups seeking power for their own ends. We don't talk of a conspiracy to win an election if the suspect activity includes only candidates and their handlers working privately to develop effective strategy.