It is obviously hard to be 100% certain of all the details without being there ourselves, but the evidence I have seen also points to a 'joint effort'. In fact, the history shows that most of the world has been taken over long ago by a group of some of the 'wealthiest' families behind the scenes that are were identified by the ivy league historian Carrol Quigley as 'the network'. I highly recommend reading his story too - it is one of the most imortant ones I know of:

https://steemit.com/politics/@ura-soul/the-whistleblowers-series-13-representative-democracy-is-a-con-game-designed-by-a-hidden-network-of-oligarchs-a-highly-respected

The nations and democracies are little more than departments of a giant human farming corporation.