The Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making

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  What & Who are influencing the world in this age. A few thousand individuals actually can change the world. It can be thrilling to be one of these people but scary to watch at the outer(??) circle.

  One thing I agree/admit is that these individuals will share more among themselves rather than by nationalties or other characteristics which previously defined them. 1 Russian Oligarth will share more with 1 Brazilian top biz man rather than a Russian common people in terms of their biz ... (show more)

  What & Who are influencing the world in this age. A few thousand individuals actually can change the world. It can be thrilling to be one of these people but scary to watch at the outer(??) circle.

  One thing I agree/admit is that these individuals will share more among themselves rather than by nationalties or other characteristics which previously defined them. 1 Russian Oligarth will share more with 1 Brazilian top biz man rather than a Russian common people in terms of their biz interest, wealth gained and especially by their DNA. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook-användare on Jun 17, 2009 at 12:53PM

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  Shows globalisation has in the main benefited Western political, financial and business interests disproportionately. Rothkopf’s socio-historical approach attempts to peel back insitutional layers to flesh out a “taxonomy” of those 6,000 or so individuals who make up what he calls the globalised ’superclass’, who are more than symbols of today’s economic inequalities.

  Not surprisingly, he advocates considerations of social justice to make globalisation ‘fairer’, suggesting that “legitim... (show more)

  Shows globalisation has in the main benefited Western political, financial and business interests disproportionately. Rothkopf’s socio-historical approach attempts to peel back insitutional layers to flesh out a “taxonomy” of those 6,000 or so individuals who make up what he calls the globalised ’superclass’, who are more than symbols of today’s economic inequalities.

  Not surprisingly, he advocates considerations of social justice to make globalisation ‘fairer’, suggesting that “legitimate public governance mechanisms with real mandates” are necessary to set the priorities of globalisation. Rothkopf believes that current global governance frameworks may not be adequate to respond to and may be ultimately irrelevant to an increasingly borderless, transnational superclass.

  However, I find problematic Rothkof’s suggestion that to survive and retain power, these elites have “to make the needs of those least able to help themselves its number one priority”. Having surveyed the rise and fall of past era elites and invariably determined that increasing detachment and disengagement from the needs and concerns of ‘the little people’ led to their downfall, it seems contradictory for Rothkopf to then surmise that the superclass can preserve itself the way it currently is by introducing more social justice in the world. Wouldn’t that be catalysing their own destruction, or at least transformation, since history has shown all too clearly that overreaching elites have been overthrown in favour of new, more equitable power structures?

  Overall, a good read, and highly recommended for those with a penchant to find out more about the insides out of globalisation. (show less)

   

  by Alexander Ho on Jun 08, 2008 at 04:14PM

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