David Rothkopf Reveals the Inner Workings of the Global Power Elite

David Rothkopf Reveals the Inner Workings of the Global Power Elite

David Rothkopf

In the April installment of the Aspen Roundtable Series, David Rothkopf, an acclaimed author, former Clinton Administration international trade official and current visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, examined the world of the most powerful in a conversation with Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson about his latest book, Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Opening with a look back at The Power Elite — C. Wright Mills' 1956 study of the structure of power in the United States — Rothkopf questioned, "If C. Wright Mills were writing the book today, who would he be writing about?” By Rothkopf's determination, it would be "a group that is predominantly from the private sector," "a group where the influence of military elites has declined," and "an elite…that is increasingly trans-Pacific." In essence, said Rothkopf, "people who have influence over the lives of millions on a regular basis across borders."

Rothkopf cautioned against imbuing this superclass, as he defines it, with a monolithic nature or intent. However, “there are meetings where they get together and views are formed,” he said, such as the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Bilderberg conference. While the superclass may not act as one, these types of events become an “idea force multiplier,” said Rothkopf, where the powerful can influence each other's thinking.

Alongside this rise of today's global superclass, "inequality has grown everywhere," he noted. Except for China and India, "in every country in the world…the middle classes have shrunk," he said. And while "most of the people in these [superclass] groups give one percent of their income to charity," Rothkopf added, "it's always going to be much smaller than what's needed, and it's always going to be in their self-interest.”