I hesitated to respond because honestly, it's a dangerous question you are asking, and a truthful answer in the wrong place or time can be social and political suicide.
I understand your view, and generally agree with your primary point that it's not a single overarching group in total control. The world of Machiavellian Realpolitik is much more nuanced and complex than that, and I mostly chalk it up to our tendency as humans seek to simplify things.
First, I would like to point out that I consider Hanlon's razor a logical fallacy that should be relegated to the dustbin of debate. It is far too often used in the discussion of this matter.
Now to your original question of who "they" is. In short, my conclusion is that it is primarily but not restricted to the supranational aristocratic elite, in particular the ones who desire global governance (at least on the surface). The most obvious example of this is the kinds of people who are C-level or board level who have positions across the world. A good primary jumping point for this would be the analysis of control networks in this very good paper: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1107.5728.pdf
All that paper does though is show the level of interconnectedness, but what it doesn't show is intent. That wasn't your question though and is best left for another discussion.
The bottom line to me is that "they" is the uber-wealthy, and that class-warfare and return of a type of neo-feudalism is right around the corner if not already here.
If you want to know where the collusion happens, look to the round table groups; eg. the council on foreign relations, the bilderberg group, the trilateral commision, and various think-tanks, superpacs, and tax-exempt foundations, and yes, even secret societies. The main mistake though is to think they are all in on it or even understand it. That's not how control at a high level works.
Imagine how control of a secretive org such as the CIA/NSA works. It's so wrapped up in compartmentalization that it's easy to take people who mean well and task them with something they don't understand the bigger picture implications of, and combine many of them to accomplish a big thing that none of them understand but a few key people at the top.
I propose that the majority of "the key people at the top" are comprimised in some form or fashion, so even they are pawns in a game they don't fully understand... many simply want to make money or protect their reputations, though some are most definitely being blackmailed or threatened with much, much worse.