Transnational Elites: Imperial Histories, Global Power and Public Resistance Today

British Academy Conferences bring together scholars from around the world to present, discuss and consolidate new research in the humanities and social sciences.

Today’s increasing economic inequality goes hand in hand with an uptick in elite power worldwide, raising concerns about eroding democratic governance and diminishing social cohesion. Although this trend has inspired vital new scholarship, much of this approaches elites through a national lens, and lacks attention to the past and present imperial and (neo)colonial contexts in which they operate. Yet, public debate about the role of oligarchs and kleptocracy, widespread tax evasion and use of offshore finance, and the siphoning of wealth from the Global South through them, all demonstrate the need for greater academic analysis of the transnational – and specifically imperial and (neo)colonial – dimensions of elite formation and power today. This two-day conference will make a major contribution to this scholarly agenda by bringing together leading international and interdisciplinary scholars to explore the roles and influence of contemporary transnational elites in an increasingly unequal world.

Conference convenors:

• Dr Sarah Kunz, University of Essex
• Professor Mike Savage, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Dr Katie Higgins, University of Oxford

Conference Chairs:

• Professor Aaron Reeves, University of Oxford
• Dr Pere Ayling, University of Suffolk
• Professor Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania

Speakers across the two-day conference include:

• Professor Jorge Atria, Universidad Diego Portale, Chile
• Dr Parul Bhandari, University of Cambridge
• Professor Brooke Harrington, Dartmouth College
• Dr Katie Higgins, University of Oxford
• Professor Kimberley Hoang, University of Chicago
• Dr Sarah Kunz, University of Essex
• Professor Shamus Khan, Princeton University
• Professor Hanna Kuusela, Tampere University
• Professor Maria Luisa Méndez, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
• Dr Annalena Oppel, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Professor John Osburg, University of Rochester
• Dr Ujithra Ponniah, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Professor Mike Savage, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Professor Leonard Seabrooke, Copenhagen Business School
• Dr Denisse Sepúlveda, Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Socia (COES), Chile
• Professor Miguel Serna, Universicad de la República, Uruguay

Conference ticket prices:

• In-person: admission £40 per day (£80 for both days).
• In-person: concessions £20 per day (£40 for both days).
• Online admission: £10 per day (£20 for both days).
• Online concessions: £6 per day (£12 for both days).

Please note that on both days, only the morning and first afternoon thematic sessions on will be live-streamed. The afternoon open discussion will be for in-person attendees only.

If you have any questions about this event please refer to our events FAQs or email [email protected].