Elite Connections
While much of the work at IPI focuses on the viewpoints and behaviors of citizens, important political decisions are made by elites. To understand how political power works, it is necessary to look at the behavior of elites, to understand how elites maintain their power, and to understand how economic power is transformed into political power.
Political Contexts
While research on poverty and political exclusion is omnipresent in the social sciences, the field of research on political and economic elites is rarely addressed. One reason for this is that the compartmentalization of one's own political activity can appear to be an instrument of power in itself. At the same time, however, the connections of the elites are of great interest to the public. Attending the same school or working in the same company can lead to personal ties, which in turn can influence decision-makers to the detriment of society. For example, a close relationship between legislators and business elites, such as CEOs and senior managers, can lead to policies that are more in line with the interests of specific companies than the interests of the public. At the other extreme, a complete lack of connections between political and business elites could lead to policies that completely disregard economic concerns. The link between elite connections and political inequality is therefore the main motivation for this project. The main objective is to compile a comprehensive global data set on political and economic elites. It will consist of a network matrix that shows the connections between individuals and allows us to visualize and analyze the relationships of elites within and between the economic and political spheres. In the initial phase of this project, we will manage the construction of this dataset, focusing on Germany and Uganda.
Timeline: 2023 - ongoing
Researchers: Lisa Garbe (WZB), Macartan Humphreys (WZB), Lennard Naumann (WZB)
The Elite Networks Project
This project collects and analyzes data on telecommunications ownership and control (TOSCO) to assess whether and how political connections influence the willingness of companies to comply with government requests to censor or block Internet access. The TOSCO dataset enables a comparative large-N analysis of the determinants and effects of different ownership structures and identities in the changing context of 49 African countries. Combining different strands of literature from political science, economics and business administration, we theorize how different government-business owner linkages, both domestically and internationally, determine a firm's willingness to comply with government orders to block Internet access, even if this would result in financial losses. By linking ISP data from TOSCO with VPN usage data, we determine which ISPs have blocked or censored internet access between 2017 and 2021.
Timeline: 2017 - ongoing
Researchers: Tina Freyburg (University of St.Gallen), Lisa Garbe (WZB), Seraphine Maerz (University of Frankfurt), Veronique Wavre (University of St.Gallen), Joss Wright (Oxford)