Reforming the World: George Soros, Global Capitalism and the Philanthropic Management of the Social Sciences1

Abstract

Philanthropic practices allow the dominant classes to generate knowledge about society and regulatory prescriptions, in particular by promoting the development of the social sciences. Th e 19th century industrialists had often invested their resources in the definition and treatment of relevant social issues, in order to institutionalize the new form of capitalism they represented. In the late 20th century, the new transnationalized social strata representing the hegemony of financial capital, whose power depends on their capacity to perpetuate the new socioeconomic order, used similar strategies. Philanthropy offers a privileged strategy for generating new forms of "policy knowledge" convergent with the interests of their promoters. Focusing on the Central European University founded by the financier George Soros, the paper argues that, far from seeking to curb the excesses of economic globalization, such efforts are actually institutionalizing it by laying the foundations of its own regulatory order.

Pour une approche sociopolitique de la philanthropie financière : plaidoyer pour un programme de recherche

“…Le paradoxe est souvent qu'à l'inté-rieur des frontières la philanthropie ne doit pas se mêler de politique, mais qu'à l'extérieur, les délimitations sont plus ténues. Ainsi, les fondations américaines se sont engagées très ouvertement sur la scène internationale, dès le début du vingtième siècle (Tournès, 2007), plus encore pendant les deux guerres mondiales et durant la guerre froide (Arnove, 1982), et enfin elles ont assumé un rôle important dans la conversion à l'économie de marché et la promotion des droits de l'homme et des minorités dans les ex-pays de l'Est (Guilhot, 2007). Autant dire que les découpages entre philanthropie et politique tiennent plus à une savante et fluctuante architecture, au gré des contextes, qu'à des cloisons étanches et bien délimitées.…”

Transnational Alternative Policy Groups in Global Civil Society: Enablers of Post-Capitalist Alternatives or Carriers of NGOization?

“…65), a "compromise" acceptable to mainstream Northern-based civil society. As foundations vie to capture and becalm contested fields, they play a major role in NGOization (see Guilhot, 2007;Research Unit for Political Economy, 2007). …”

Private philanthropy or policy transfer? The transnational norms of the Open Society Institute

“…In tune with the wider objectives of the University, it is aimed at training professionals to become sensitive to global governance (Guilhot, 2007). CPS also manages OSI's International Policy…”

“…Initiatives that involved transnational activity and also serve to counter-balance the CEE standpoint for participant observation. Finally, literature on philanthropy, some of it of a critical disposition towards OSI (eg Guilhot, 2007,;Roelofs, 2003;& Stubbs, 2005) is combined with an international relations literature on civil society and transnational activism to provide the general analytical context. This is done to argue that the concept of global civil society becomes attractive as it can be used to justify institutions of global governance (Bartelson, 2006).…”

“…For some, private philanthropy is a privileged strategy for generating new forms of "policy knowledge" convergent with the interests of their promoters (Guilhot, 2007). This is apposite when assessing the OSI and its sister institution CEU regarding the political and ideological functions of philanthropic initiatives in higher education.…”