Two groups are secretly cooperating.
In public, however, they act as though they are struggling against each other.
The public act is part of the cooperative activity itself–to bring about their conspiratorial goals requires that everyone think they are struggling against each other.
I know I’ve seen situations like this depicted in fiction.
Are there any documented cases like this in RL history, though?
-FrL-
Corporate mergers and buy-outs will often require companies to continue on as competitors until an official announcement has been made. But outside of the business world nothin comes to mind.
And I think there might not be simply because “fighting” in pretty much all situations besides the business world–and that we would care about enough to term a conspiracy–requires people to die. If there are cases my personal guess would be to look at either China or Russia, as historically I think these would have been the two countries/areas most likely to kill off their own subjects without remorse.
In point of fact, I have always believed that North Korea’s consistant misbehavior has been dictated by China as a way to get goodies from other nations (Japan, US, etc.) No personal evidence though.
Sure. There are a lot of Price fixing scams – where Companies SEEM to be competing against each other (in public) but behind the scenes have an agreement to either raise or put a floor on prices.
Proven cases have included Large International ,
Small local
Small and Local, Outside the U.S. and seemingly innocent/innocuous
Sometimes I suspect that the Republican and Democratic parties take turns being the Harlem Globetrotters and Washington Generals, but I have no documentation.
(Duh! If you’re going to conspire, you don’t want to leave a paper trail!)
Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawlor entered into such a conspiracy.
I, too, have suspected that the Republican and Democratic parties are playing the ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’ game.
I did advertising labeling for a ‘gentleman’ who sold designer (very pricey) and discount (very cheap) shampoo to chain supermarkets. Same product - different color - sold side by side.
So far as I can tell, the Democratic party is incapable of any concerted act, whether for their own benefit or not. In order for them to be such sophisticated consiprators, they’d have to be extremely good actors.
Pat Buchanan, a long term Republican loyalist, took over Perot’s Reform Party in order to remove it from contention in the 2000 election. A significant run by a Perot-like figure might have thrown the election to Gore just like Perot helped Clinton get elected in 1992 over Bush I.
So Buchanan had to “pretend” (and not very hard at that) at being an opponent of Bush II.
There are similar moves afoot by conservatives who are calling themselves Libertarians in order to undermine the development of that party.
Riiiiiiight. It had nothing to do with Buchanan’s public break with the Republican Party back in the mid-90’s as Buchanan became more stridently isolationist (even publishing a book about why American entry into WW2 was wrong) and anti-NAFTA. Perot’s Reform party, having a long tradition of social conservatism combined with protectionism (Perot being the only candidate in 1992 and 1996 to campaign against NAFTA) certainly wouldn’t have been a refuge for Buchanan after the Repubs had basically kicked him out of the '96 convention after blaming him for the '92 loss.
And, of course, you have documentation for this like the OP requests, right?