Recently, I met somebody, who has worked abroad for much of his life, who flies to London to listen to classical music concerts, and is otherwise a very urbane man. On our first meeting he seriously asked me for my views on 9/11: who dunnit, in brief? I said I thought the American authorities had documented the case against the 19 suicide bombers pretty thoroughly.

"Irfan Bhai," he replied, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Sooner or later we will discover the Japanese were behind the attacks." "The Japanese?" I asked, startled. This was a new one for me. His theory was that a group of Japanese patriots had planned the whole thing to avenge the American nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Dream on, I said to myself.

Every year at Christmas, the Economist brings out a special double issue which contains a number of essays on a wide and eclectic range of subjects. This year has been a particularly good one with some brilliant long articles on the importance of Marxism today, a witty defence of cluttered desks, the possibility of pilotless planes and eating out in Vietnam.

One piece that stood out was on conspiracy theories. The anonymous writer put things in perspective by pointing out that every nation and every period has seen its share of screwball theories. Israeli government spokesmen have accused the BBC of being Yasser Arafat's mouthpiece. (Ironically, Muslims charge the news service of being pro-Israeli). Forty years after his death and countless books later, 73 per cent of Americans still think John Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy. Indians see the ISI's hand in every explosion and every cricketing defeat. Pakistanis are prone to blame RAW (and the CIA as well as Mossad) for all their woes.

I recently met a gentleman who will go nameless here (suffice it to say he is widely respected for his integrity) who accused me of not paying enough attention to what he termed 'the real conspiracies' against Pakistan and the Muslim world. "Why else have democracy and education not taken root?" he demanded. I answered that western governments and institutions had been trying for years to persuade our leaders to educate our children and introduce democracy.

Surely nobody was stopping us from spending more on education, I suggested, just as nobody except authoritarian leaders were blocking democratic reforms.But I'm afraid I failed to convince him, and left after recounting my favourite conspiracy theory told to me in all seriousness by a serving general a few years ago. It seems that when the British colonialists were dishing out canal-irrigated land in Punjab and Sindh to their favourite toadies in the 19th century, they were deliberately building up a feudal class that would hinder Pakistan's progress after it was created a century later.

I asked him if he was seriously suggesting that the Brits had foreseen the emergence of a separate Muslim state on the subcontinent decades before it was even dreamed of by its founding fathers. Absolutely, he replied: "Irfan Sahib, you don't realize how far ahead the British and Americans plan".

The Economist article has an explanation for the attraction of conspiracism: "... as grand unifying theories of geopolitics go, it is simple to grasp. In ill-educated societies, that makes it appealing. It is also impossible to disprove, because any fact that does not fit the theory can be dismissed as a trick by the conspirators to throw ordinary folks off the scent..." And, of course, blaming others for our problems is much easier than taking charge of our destiny and working hard to overcome our own difficulties. If we are convinced that "they" are out to get us, and "they" are all-powerful and plan centuries ahead, what's the point of even trying?

Unfortunately, much of the developing world today is in thrall to the notion that advanced countries have deliberately plotted to keep the Third World backward. In the words of a contributor to the New African: "Today [Africa] has to remain in deficit so Europe and America can maintain their obscene wealth." The fact is, as the Economist points out, that Africa counts for less than two per cent of global trade. Study after study has shown that development is not a zero-sum game: when poor states become richer, they can import more, thus enriching exporting economies.

Nevertheless, millions of people from the Third World remain convinced that there is a diabolical plot to keep them poor. Of course this suits the ruling elites of these countries as there is little pressure on them to improve the lot of their own citizens: if we are victims of a foreign plot, clearly our own leadership must be blameless. For good measure, our leaders join in this anti-West chorus.

Whenever I have argued that unless we educate our people, we will remain powerless and unable to compete economically and politically on the global stage, I have been shouted down. Readers have accused me of being 'an agent of the West' for suggesting that our weakness is our own fault and it is a waste of time and energy to blame others. The truth is that to escape from the poverty trap requires sustained hard work and sacrifice. It also needs long-term investment in human resource. These efforts are not as much fun as demonstrating outside the American embassy or sitting in drawing rooms and fulminating against the Zionist-imperialist plots against us.

Indeed, conspiracy theories help keep old enmities alive: if ordinary Indians and Pakistanis are convinced that everything that goes wrong in their countries is the other's fault, then there will be popular support for the official antagonism that exists and is fostered by the two governments. This suits New Delhi and Islamabad just fine as there is no popular pressure on our rulers to resolve their differences and let us get on with life.

More often than not, conspiracy theories are positively harmful to the societies in which they breed. For example, many religious leaders in Pakistan denounce family planning as a western plot to keep the Muslim population low. In Pakistan, at least, this is one plot that has been thwarted with great success. Similarly, many Africans suspect that the campaign to persuade them to use condoms is aimed at keeping their numbers down rather than preventing the spread of AIDS. But we are not alone in believing that the world is out to get us: whenever I read the Jerusalem Post on the Internet, I am struck by the paranoia evident in most of the articles. Israelis seem convinced that everybody except the United States is against them.