Writer, Bollinger Explore Meaning of Modern Power

David Rothkopf, CC ’77, will tell you that 6,000 people run a world of billions—but he won’t say which ones.

On Tuesday night, as part of the World Leaders Forum, Rothkopf discussed his book Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making with an audience that filled Low Rotunda. Wall Street Journal online executive editor Alan Murray moderated the ensuing discussion of 21st-century-style power, which included University President Lee Bollinger, Professors Merit Janow and Saskia Sassen, and President of the Inter-American Development Bank Luis Alberto Moreno.

Rothkopf’s book considers the implications of the distribution of power and influence among a proportionally tiny group of people who have more in common with each other than with their countries. Members of the “superclass” are influential in different ways, and include leaders of financial companies, government leaders, religious leaders, and even terrorists and criminals.

Rothkopf said he was particularly pleased to launch the book at Columbia because of his connection to the University.

“Beyond the personal connection, when I was here, when I was exploring the richness of the Core Curriculum, that we were forced—we were led—into appreciating,” Rothkopf said, he was led to discover The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills. Rothkopf said that when his publisher called him and asked him to choose a book topic of his own, he saw Mills’ Elite on his desk and thought of the dramatic changes that have occurred in dynamics of the elite since its publication in the 1950s.

“Whereas in the past, if the elite rose up too high—take the robber barons in the 19th century—there was a government apparatus that could write laws to contain the balance,” Rothkopf said. “But when we operate on a global stage, there are fewer laws,” he added. The question of potential international governance structures to regulate the new elite, which Rothkopf said “is producing gross inequality,” shaped the rest of the discussion. Most panelists agreed that the proper governance structures to cope with the “superclass” do not exist.

The book explores the ramifications of the “superclass”, but does not include a list of its members’ names. “I don’t really care so much about the list per se,” Rothkopf said. “I care about understanding the nature of the few who play a disproportionately influential role, how they are leading us, how they’re changing.” He added that if he had published the names, the list would quickly become obsolete.

Murray asked Bollinger what universities’ roles are in confronting the changing dynamics of the distribution of power.

“Institutions like Columbia really are committed to broad social mobility,” Bollinger said, adding that 15 percent of students admitted into the class of 2012 are eligible for federal Pell grants, which are aimed at low-income students.

As the world changes, Bollinger said, the role of the university is to play the “honest critic.” He added that universities do not globalize at the same rate as the outside world. “We have to catch up and do more,” he said. As an example, he pointed to his own class “Freedom of Speech and the Press,” which he said he “still teaches in a national way.”

After the discussion, attendees gathered in the faculty room for a reception with food and drink, while Rothkopf signed copies of his book.

joy.resmovits@columbiaspectator.com