Europe's Super‐Rich: Towards Oligarchic Constitutional Order

Abstract

This article addresses an important but understudied puzzle in European Union Studies: the super‐rich's influence on domestic and transnational discourses, policies and institutions for wealth defence, security and legitimacy. It examines the super‐rich's impact on democratic governance and human rights claims of marginalized groups, and how states, civil society and non‐oligarchic entities contest oligarchic rule. The article proposes a research agenda to determine if Europe can be seen as an oligarchic constitutional order, characterized by governance practices and authority structures deeply intertwined with the super‐rich's interests in transnational and domestic politics. The framework in this research agenda underscores how institutional arrangements, legitimating principles, regulatory practices and procedural systems increasingly favour the super‐rich, reflecting a dominant mode of transnational governance rooted in extreme socio‐economic stratification. The research agenda aims to elucidate the tension between wealth and democratic governance, particularly how policies and normative discourses often align with the super‐rich's interests despite resistance from marginalized groups.