The Global Corporate Elite and the Transnational Policy-Planning Network, 1996-2006

Abstract

This article presents a network analysis of elite interlocks among the world's 500 largest corporations and a purposive sample of transnational policyplanning boards. The analysis compares the situation in 1996 with 2006 and reveals a process of transnational capitalist class formation that is regionally uneven. Network analysis points to a process of structural consolidation through which policy boards have become more integrative nodes, brokering elite relations between firms from different regions, especially Europe and North America. As national corporate networks have thinned, the global corporate-policy network's centre of gravity has shifted towards Europe, both at the level of individuals and organizations. Although this study finds a modest increase in participation of corporate elites from the Global South, a North Atlantic ruling class remains at the centre of the process of transnational capitalist class formation.

The Corporate Elite Community Structure of Global Capitalism

“…A large body of literature has established that interlocking directorates have been the cornerstones of national business communities all over the globe ever since large corporations emerged (Stokman et al 1985, Kogut 2012. Social structures such as the network of interlocking directorates -in concert with policy-planning networks, conferences, forums and so onhelp to build consensus and conformity and give direction for change (Domhoff 1970, Heemskerk 2007, Carroll and Sapinski 2010, Richardson et al 2011.…”

“…In other words, we need to 'thicken' research on the global corporate elite. This includes a better understanding of the career trajectories and recruitment patterns of elites (Bühl-mann et al 2012, Dudouet et al 2013, their connections with politics and the state (Heemskerk et al 2012, Murray 2014, the role of revolving door mechanisms (Van Apeldoorn and De Graaff 2014) and their ties with policy planning, lobby and NGO networks (Domhoff 1975, Carroll and Sapinski 2010, Richardson et al 2011. A fruitful combination of large-scale big data approaches with detailed process tracing approaches hold the promise of significant progress for those interested in the dynamics of the structure of the global economic order, and what it means for politics, policy and people.…”

Critical perspectives on the globally mobile professional and managerial class

“…An important element of this work is the idea that the neoliberal globalized world is sustained and perpetuated through the agents and functionaries of neoliberal global capitalism (Carroll, 2010;Robinson, 2004;Robinson, 2012;Sklair, 2001). For example, a number of emerging literatures are engaging with how this global system is constructed and enacted (Dardot and Laval, 2013;Panitch and Gindin, 2012).…”

“…For example, a number of emerging literatures are engaging with how this global system is constructed and enacted (Dardot and Laval, 2013;Panitch and Gindin, 2012). There is also work on the global elite (Freeland, 2011;Harvey and Maclean, 2008;Rothkopf, 2008;Unruh and Cabrera, 2013); network capital (Richardson, Kakabadse, and Kakabadse, 2011); nomadic capital (Braidotti, 2011); global contact zones (Yeoh and Willis, 2005); global elite conferences (Carroll and Sapinski, 2010;Richardson et al, 2011); global philanthropy (Newland, Terrazas, and Munster, 2010); celebrity humanitarianism (Bell, 2013;Cooper, 2008;Kapoor, 2012) and; philanthrocapitalism (Bishop and Green, 2008). In many ways this global elite or transnational capitalist class constitutes a "semi-organized network of individuals from business, government, academia, civil society and the media" (Andersson and Calvano, this issue), as well as a network of formalized institutions, who seem to be organizing the global economy in a particular direction.…”

Embedding Post-Capitalist Alternatives: The Global Network of Alternative Knowledge Production

“…To explore this, in Figure 3 we map the entire network of 16 TAPGs and their 24 7 direct neighbors, according to the location of each organization's headquarters. One can observe extensive traffic across the North Atlantic, and in this respect the network bears some resemblance to the elite network associated with the transnational capitalist class (Carroll 2010). Similarly, organizations based in Europe are particularly prominent.…”