ZfL INFO 75/2026: The Return of Oligarchy. Conceptual and Historical Dimensions of a Powerful Phenomenon
The Return of Oligarchy. Conceptual and Historical Dimensions of a Powerful Phenomenon
The oligarchs are back. Following the most recent U.S. election and the growing political involvement of tech entrepreneurs, the concept of oligarchy has once again become a topic of public debate. For a long time, the term was primarily associated with the post-socialist transformations of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Today, however, oligarchic power increasingly appears as a distinctly Western, technology-driven phenomenon operating at the centre of political and economic life, not merely behind the scenes.
Despite the term’s renewed prominence, the conceptual and historical dimensions of oligarchy remain surprisingly underexplored. As the first event in a series dedicated to this subject, our workshop will adopt an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to examine the historical trajectories and conceptual foundations of oligarchic rule and power. How does oligarchy relate to democracy and state-building, imperialism and decolonisation, late capitalism, accelerationism or extractivism? What kinds of social structures and institutions are produced by oligarchic forms of power? Can societies or social norms themselves be described as oligarchic?
The workshop will be accompanied by a public evening event. Andreas Kalyvas from the New School for Social Research in New York will be in conversation with Andrea Binder about how the “oligarchic imaginary” is shaped by liberal market logics.
A cooperation between the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL).
Program
Thursday, 10 Sep 2026
Ilse-Zimmermann-Saal
14.00
Opening
14.30
Conceptualizations of Oligarchy
- Emily Katzenstein (Technical University of Munich): The Rule of the Rich? Theorizing Oligarchic Power
- Florin-Răzvan Mihai (NIST Bucharest): The Many Lives of Oligarchy: A Conceptual History of “Oligarchy” in Romanian Political Culture from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present Day
16.30
The Postsocialist Phenomenon of Oligarchy
- Florian Peters (Friedrich Schiller University Jena): Children of Liberal Populism? Reconsidering the Rise of Postsocialist Oligarchy
- Inna Melnykovska (Central European University Vienna): Ukrainian and Russian Oligarchs during the War
18.30
Evening event
Eberhard-Lämmert-Saal
The Oligarchic Imaginary and its Logic
Andreas Kalyvas (New School for Social Research, New York) in conversation with Andrea Binder (FU Berlin)
Friday, 11 Sep 2026
Ilse-Zimmermann-Saal
10.00
Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives
- Andrea Binder (FU Berlin): Powering Wealth. How Entrepreneurial Families Shape the Energy Transition
- Hugo Drochon (University of Nottingham): The Return of Oligarchy or Its Permanence? Michels, Pareto and the Elite Theorists
11.30
Postcolonial and Global Perspectives
- Oluwafunminiyi Wasiu Raheem (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife): The Nigerian Oligarchic Elite: Power in a Postcolonial African State
- Xiaofei Tu (Appalachian State University, Boone): The Return of the Oligarchy: An Asian Perspective
14.30
Historical Dimensions of Oligarchic Power
- Matthew Haji-Michael (Central Europan University Vienna): Towards an Archeology of the Plebeian Alternative
- Shalin Jain (University of Delhi): Courtly Mutualism Before Modernity: Jain Merchant Oligarchies and the Politics of Wealth in Early Modern South Asia
16.00
Closing remarks
https://www.zfl-berlin.org/event/the-return-of-oligarchy-i.html