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Transnational elite communication
Theorising the Financial Times andWorld Economic Forum
as spaces for transnational elite formation
MGC 1: Introduction to Media and Global Communication
10-Oct-2016
Markus Ojala
Theorising = writing theory
What is my object of study? What is it part of?
What is the phenomenon I am studying? What are its common traits?
Does my object of study/phenomenon have historical precedents? How has it existed/occurred/developed in the past? What may be distinct to its contemporary forms from a historical perspective?
What is the significance of my object of study or (/as part of) the phenomenon? Which theoretical perspectives might help to interpret it/assess it significance?
Transnational elite communication Theorising the Financial Times and World Economic Forumas spaces for transnational elite formation
1. Starting points: Global political economy and power elites
2. Transnational elite communication (TEC)
3. Some features of TEC
4. Economic globalisation and TEC
5. Transnational elite formation – a public sphere perspective on TEC
6. Coordinative, integrative, ideological power – a cultural studies perspective on TEC
7. Summary and conclusion: TEC and transnational elite integration
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1. Starting points: Global political economy and power elites
Post-GFC issues in the global political economy
economy of the 1%, weak economic recovery, Eurozone crisis and austerity, banking sector problems and financial instability
war in Syria, Ukraine conflict, South China Sea tensions
climate change, refugee crisis
Elites as principal actors
Government leaders, IGO directors, TNC executives, professionals of INGOs, think tanks, industry groups…
Elite studies: elites and masses
Democratic elitism vs. critical elite studies
Plurality of competing elites vs. elite unity
Popular influence vs. the intertwining of economic and political power
Do elites cross domains of power and adopt common outlooks and interests?
2. Transnational elite communication (TEC)
Communication between elites an essential element in (mediated) political communication (Davis, 2003)
Issues concerning transnational business, international politics and world economy
”Organized interpersonal and/or mediated communication on issues of common concern between the political, economic, bureaucratic and expert elites of theglobal political economy”
Clubs and forums
Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, Jackson Hole, Clinton Global Initiative, Sun Valley, Aspen Ideas Festival, Boao Forum, Global Conference, World EconomicForum
Media
Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and The Economic Observer (CHN), CNBC, Bloomberg Television, CNNmoney.com, Reuters.com
3. Some features of transnational elite communication (TEC)
Western-dominated but globally inclusive
Highly exclusive: criteria of admission, language, expert knowledge, marketing
Matters of common concern, ”global” issues
Contributes to the agenda of global economic governance
Rules of conduct: Members as equals, informality; but: hierarchies and elites withinelites
Facilitating rational-critical debate and exhange of ideas
Hierarchical, selective in access: regulates the exposure to new ideas
Individuals with privileged backgrounds and positions of influence
Networking, collective identity: to recognise and be recognised
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4. Economic globalisation and TEC
Early capitalist globalisation
Newsletters, diasporic merchant communities
Bourgeois associations and societies: Freemasons (18th century)
Colonial globalisation (19th century to WW1)
International news agencies, The Economist 1842, Financial Times 1888
Secret societies and round tables in the British empire
Rotary International 1905, Lions Club 1917
International Chamber of Commerce 1919
US-led globalisation and global governance regime after World War 2
International publications, TV networks, online platforms
Transatlantic groups 1950s: e.g. Atlantic Council, Bilderberg
Trilateral Commission 1970s, World Economic Forum 1989
Facilitating the integration of elites for global economic governance?
5. Transnational elite formation – a public sphere perspective on TEC
Societies, clubs and associations, and the early press as the spaces and practices of “the bourgeois public sphere” (Habermas, 1989; Eley, 1992)
to discuss matters of common concern: the state and the market
transcending narrow private interests and articulating common interests
spaces and means for the self-organisation of the bourgeoisie
bourgeois solidarity, class consciousness, collective identity and ethos of social leadership
TEC forums and media as spaces for advancing collective class consciousness? (Gill, 1990; van der Pijl, 1998)
Spaces for elite debate on common concerns: the global economy
How to restore growth, where to find new areas of innovations, how to solveenvironmental problems, how to improve human well-being…
Overcoming immediate/narrow business/industry/national interests
Liberalising and integrating the global economy as the ”universal interest”
Transnational solidarity, class consciousness and elite identity
6. Coordination, integration, ideology – a cultural studies perspective on TEC
Coordinative/informational power
Ideas and knowledge for global governance
Public deliberation in ”private” spaces
Communication and the public sphere as a form of power in world society?
Integrative/cultural power
World-cultural ideas, beliefs, values and actor-identities (Starr 2004)
Ideological power
Legitimation
Reproduction of a ”moral conception of the elite” (Mills 1956; cf. Starr 2004)
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7. Summary and conclusion: TEC and transnational elite integration
Post-WW2 TEC closely associated with the US-led capitalist project of economic and market integration
Incorporation of elites to facilitate global economic governance
Transnational elite integration paves the way for collective agency
The problem on inclusiveness
Incorporation of new elites tends to reinforce interest conflicts
Shifts in the global political economy put strain on US/Western dominance
Crises increase ideological disorientation (mercantilist policies etc.)
Post-GFC loss of cohesion and common identity?
Transnational elite formation in TEC as an open-ended process
References
Davis, Aeron (2003). Whither mass media and power? Evidence for a critical elite theory alternative. Media, Culture & Society, 25(5): 669-690. http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/25/5/669.abstract
Eley, Geoff (1992). Nations, publics, and political cultures: placing Habermas in the nineteenth century. In Craig Calhoun (ed.). Habermas and the public sphere, pp. 289-339. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Gill, Stephen (1990). American hegemony and the Trilateral Commission. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.
Habermas, Jürgen (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Mills, C. Wright (1956). The power elite. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Starr, Martha (2004). Reading The Economist on globalisation: Knowledge, identity, and power. Global Society, 18(4): 373-394. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360082042000272463
van der Pijl, Kees (1998). Transnational classes and international relations. London: Routledge.
