Peter Phillips, Giants: The Global Power Elite

Peter Phillips, Giants: The Global Power Elite, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2018, 384 pp., $19.95.

In the history of the debate on the structure of power in the United States and elsewhere there have been many twists and turns. In the United States, in its modern form, this debate started in the 1950s with the publication of Floyd Hunter’s Community Power Structure (1953), and was brought into national focus by the publication of C. Wright Mills’ The Power Elite (1956). Along the way the arguments put forward by Mills and Hunter, and later by G. William Domhoff in Who Rules America?, were contested by pluralists in political science and sociology. Pluralists argued that power elite theorists exaggerated the control of elites and ignored the possibility that elites were in competition with each other. The possibility of elite competition allowed democracy to still flourish, although in a different form than originally put forth by democratic theorists. Elite pluralism, as the argument was presented, rebutted the arguments of power elite theorists and presented a so-called realistic account of a flawed but still functioning democratic system.

The key elements which pluralist theorists contested were the unity of interests of elites from various sectors of society and the ability of a coherent elite to consistently advance their interests within the policy arena. Pluralists suggested that there was no unified power elite in America and therefore they could not formulate on a regular basis a series of policy positions that would win in Congress. In the pluralist account, elites had influence over the political process in the U.S., but their power was constantly checked by public opinion and the checks and balances built into the American political system.

Power elite theorists, however, argued that on the key policy issues the power elite was unified by their economic interests and their zeal to maintain ideological hegemony. At the middle levels of power there was the appearance of democratic give and take, but on the key policy issues, elite political preferences generally prevailed. In the American context it is also important to note that a Marxist alternative analysis was absent from the scene until the social movements of the late 1960s forced it to be considered. In fact, C. Wright Mills and G. William Domhoff explicitly rejected the notion of a ruling class, and with it a Marxist analysis of political power in a capitalist system. In Britain, for instance, where Marxism had more currency, a different critique was put forward in books such as Ralph Miliband’s The State in Capitalist Society.

Nevertheless, the power structure debate often was shaped by false dichotomies and by adherence to the notion that in the U.S. democracy still was vibrant. On the left there were also conflicts between power elite theorists and various strands of Marxist analysis. Three questions stood out: Did a ruling class exist? Did it actually rule? If it did rule, what mechanisms did it utilize to assure its dominance in the political, economic, and ideological spheres.

Peter Phillips’ book, Giants: The Global Power Elite, continues the tradition of Hunter, Mills, Domhoff, Miliband, and others and raises the debate to a much different level. As globalized capitalism has advanced and brought within its range almost every place on the planet, global institutions have been created to regulate capitalism on a regional and world scale. Consequently new questions have emerged, which Phillips thoroughly investigates. For instance, some have argued that the key questions relating to global capitalism and global political power have transcended national boundaries. The capitalist class, Phillips suggests, is now a transnational capitalist class and power elite.

In a detailed account of the emergence of a transnational capitalist class, the author focuses on the global financial giants which oversee the central core of global capitalism. He examines the social backgrounds of the managers of the global financial giants and shows how they are interconnected. For Phillips, the participation of the global financial elite in a number of key economic and political institutions puts them in a position of being in the inner circle of the transnational capitalist class.

Moreover, Phillips has reinvigorated the debate on the power elite by kicking it up to the international level. He does a thorough job of detailing how an international capitalist class emerged, what the basis of their unity is, how they influence a number of international institutions, and how they advance their policy and ideological interests at the global level. In short, the author provides a map of how the global power elite takes on the task of administering global capitalism to assure that its interests are always served, whether they are economic interests, political interests, or social and cultural hegemony. With remarkable detail, Phillips outlines the argument that a global power elite exists and that it in fact rules global capitalism. On the international level Phillips has provided compelling answers to the questions raised by earlier critics of power elite theory by demonstrating the mechanisms by which a unity of interests among international capitalists is forged. Phillips makes a compelling case through a careful analysis of how global institutions produce and reproduce policy outcomes and ideological justifications favorable to elite interests.

As the author demonstrates, the creation and the maintenance of an international capitalist class requires considerable work to ensure that its class interests dominate in the economic, political, social, and cultural spheres worldwide. In the latter part of the book, Phillips examines the range of sectors in which control is necessary to maintain the influence of the global power elite. These include global financial institutions, policy planning institutions, military institutions (including private military companies), the corporate media, and public relations propaganda firms. In addition, it requires the capacity to anticipate and control democratic social movements and to marginalize resistance movements.

To accomplish this level of control at the international level is a complicated process and not without its perils. For as Marx often reminded us, capitalism creates its own opposition by reducing social relations to a cash nexus, and by its relentless commodification of all areas of life. For a transnational capitalist class to meet the challenge of maintaining social control on a global scale is a daunting task. It entails an extension of power and influence in the world not previously seen and a unity of purpose and coherence of elite interests that can transcend national and regional rivalries.

Phillips shows how important it is for the global power elite to coordinate its economic, military, and ideological interests. He also highlights how important the global media and public relations propaganda firms are in framing issues, blunting opposition, and creating the impression that global capitalism is not only inevitable but is improving the lives of everyone on the planet. The goal for the global power elite is nothing short of reinforcing their political and economic power. Their efforts are at once social, political, economic, and ideological. It is the author’s contention that their efforts are coordinated at the international level by an inner group of the transnational capitalist class.

Giants is an ambitious book and it provides rich detail to support its arguments. As such it makes a tremendous contribution to defining and understanding the global power elite. It concludes with a letter to the global elite which argues that “it is no longer acceptable for you to believe that you can manage capitalism to grow its way out of the gross inequalities we all now face” (p.320). In the chapter prior to the letter to the elite, which deals with democratic resistance, the author suggests a possible way out by proposing an alternative view based on the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document provides a broad framework from which to create a counter hegemony to that of the global elite.

Phillips’ book is without doubt an important contribution to the new debate about a global power elite. Its strength is in providing a detailed roadmap to understanding the nature and functions of the elite. It falls short in providing a plan for resisting elite domination, however. This is partially because Phillips is still trapped by the limitations of power elite analysis, which often paints a picture of an omnipotent elite that is very difficult to oppose.

Great attention is paid to the global elite, which is of course the subject of this book, but a little more attention could have been given to how a resistance movement might oppose the global elite. This might be a topic for another book, but an analysis which also looks at the growing contradictions and resistance faced by the global power elite might provide the basis for constructing a counter hegemony that also recognizes the potential power of an international working class.

Peter Seybold
Department of Sociology
Indiana University/Purdue University-Indianapolis
pseybold@iupui.edu