Bilderberg People

Citation

Bazin, Y. (2012), "Bilderberg People", Society and Business Review, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 102-104. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465681211195823

The very idea of studying the topics of business and society is to understand the multiple interactions between these two areas and particularly, their potential influences. Bilderberg People by Richardson, Kakabadse and Kakabadse examines a grey but central area in this matter. Between private interests and public regulation lies the many informal networks constituted by powerful, influential, individuals gathering together. In this concise, well‐written book, the authors manage to go beyond simplistic conspiracy theories. They shed a theoretical light on this phenomenon and make the Bilderberg network an example of a larger dynamic. Therefore, this conceptual, systematic, approach gives a wider perspective to the reader.

The main issue raised in this book is the multiple ways in which the so‐called international consensuses are built. Far from an accidental emergence, the authors consider it as determined by intentional efforts of elite networks – and the plural here is essential to understand the richness of their analyses. Instead of focusing on the idea of power, this book is about the more subtle modes of influence made through common sense and dominant logic. At the age of globalization, the demand for international cooperation is almost as great as the lack of strong political will, and even possibility, of global regulation. To illustrate this, the authors underline the challenges introduced by the recent financial crises and the “business as usual” response that was adopted. To them, “amid the turmoil of the crisis, the stability and economic power of major financial institutions has been restored at taxpayers' expense” and they quote Nobel prize‐winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz on the fact that President Obama had “only slightly rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic”.

To Richardson, Kakabadse and Kakabadse, there is a pattern of avoidance among policy makers that reveals a wider consensus on the desirability of the ways things are. And, given this consensus, how can meaningful change be brought about? If incremental changes are logically possible, and even unavoidable, transformational change would be more problematic. Indeed, being in contradiction with existing institutions, and therefore most ways of thinking, would make an idea impossible to understand or, more often, would constitute a threat. However, these institutions are not automatic arrangements produced by nature; they are politically built to benefit some more than others. And this is why any transformational change is problematic.

“Liberal democracies do not accidentally produce stability any more than their policy‐processes accidentally privilege certain interests. Such outcomes are unconscious, perhaps, but they are not accidental” (p. 6). This quote illustrates the central quality of the analysis carried by Bilderberg People; there is not a simplistic conspiracy theory explanation for these consensuses, this is a complex, multi dimensional, heterogeneous, phenomenon integrating many private, partly unconscious and potentially divergent interests. However, this delineation between private and public sectors has to be more systematically analysed in a society and business perspective.

Considering the topics seven of global governance and political structure calls for an examination of these elite networks and their roles in the production of consensuses that can either generates stability and change. Formal and informal elite interactions can perfectly produce an unconscious dynamic; it is not, however, accidental. Building on the case of the Bilderberg network, this book is an attempt to explore the individual mechanisms of consensus formation within that kind of community. The influence of these elites is not simply about the power, it is also, and maybe mainly, about legitimacy. For the authors, legitimacy and consensus go hand‐in‐hand. These networks and the dynamics they institute “are an integral part of a system of world politics that exists beyond any formal constituency or formal governance framework”. However, Richardson, Kakabadse and Kakabadse do not adopt a detached analytical perspective and raise the questions concerning the purpose, transparency and accountability of such networks.

The case of the most pre‐eminent elite network, Bilderberg, allows the authors to get a deeper understanding of their role in modern societies. Constituted of 120 or so of the most powerful people in the world from politics, finance and business, who gather annually, this Bilderberg network has had an undeniable presence in Western politics since the Second World War. However, one should not see it as a uniform community but more as a gathering of individuals. Building on interviews, Bilderberg People offers a fascinating glimpse inside this international elite group.

The first chapter gives a wide perspective on the emergence of informal trans‐national forms of political activity facing the shortfalls of an international system of governance. The three following chapters conceptually examine the interconnections between legitimacy, collaboration and consensus, seeing them as mutually constitutive in global politics. Chapter 5 considers the effect of the socialization processes within the Bilderberg community. Hierarchies and influences can be also seen inside this network and uniformity should not be quickly presupposed. In the sixth chapter, the authors place these informal networks in the context of world affairs to understand their functions in the global system. It allows them to see how they are fundamental parts of the existing national and international policy machinery. Chapter 7 considers the influence of these trans‐national elite consensuses. While underlying the softness of the process, Richardson, Kakabadse and Kakabadse also insist on the true impact they have.

Going beyond simplistic conspiracy theories that interprets elite networks as instruments serving an hypothetical project for world domination, Bilderberg People demonstrates how these networks are part of the system. However, the authors never stop questioning their legitimacy in these processes of consensus building. Connecting conceptual and factual analysis allows them to build a strong analysis of the phenomenon. If their understanding of institution and change sometime lack of subtleties, they still manage to shed a fascinating light on this complex matter that is the role of informal elite networks within our modern societies.