Book
As we described our work on the publisher’s website: Institutions, the humanly devised constraints of economic activity, are outcomes of elite agency. Leveraging ideas from economics, sociology, politics, and strategic management, this book proposes an “elite theory of economic development”. The overarching goal is to foster sustainable value creation at the elite business model level. This work also aims to contribute to transformational leadership, and links are made to the annual Elite Quality Index (EQx), a measure of the value creation of national elites.
Book
This book is the optimistic counterpart to Levitsky and Ziblatt, somewhat more demanding but also more original. Manow shows how democracy has become both more open and more vulnerable: more people are participating directly, while traditional institutions are losing their binding force. Many of today's crises arise from internal tensions between participation and representation. The book thus helps to understand the current transformation of democracy not only as decline, but also as the result of ambivalent changes.
Book
To better grasp the broader aims of elite theory, it is worth taking a look at the now-classic work by Noble Prize winners. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson link inclusive institutions to prosperity.
Book
You don't necessarily have to share the pessimism of this book to recognise its significance. Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that today's democracies are hardly ever destroyed by coups, but rather by the creeping erosion of democratic norms. The book contrasts current developments in the USA with the Weimar Republic and authoritarian tendencies in Latin America, thereby sharpening our focus on the specific situation of democracy in the present day.
Book
Europe is another focus of elite theory which examines the performance of its elite system. There is no stronger diagnosis of the continents’ challenges than Mario Draghi’s report, "The Future of European Competitiveness" (2024) that benchmarks Europe against China and the United States.
Book
"The Fragile Balance of Terror", edited by Vipin Narang and Scott D. Sagan, brings together a diverse collection of rigorous and creative scholars who analyze how the nuclear landscape is changing for the worse.
Book
Anyone who wants to understand the history of democracy, the history of America and the history of the 19th century in a good way will find a wealth of inspiration in this book. Tocqueville was an aristocrat without reactionary airs and graces who analysed the French Revolution and American democracy with critical distance – and in doing so understood them in a good way compared to most of the actors involved. His book on democracy in America is one of the most important classics of modern democratic theory.
Podcast
Unfortunately, not me but Martin Wolf, the Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, talks to Kenneth Rogoff about Donald Trump's trade policy, the future of the dollar, and what this means for other currencies.
Book
Harvard Professor Kenneth Rogoff demonstrates that the dollar’s decline began before Trump.
Book
Up to now, no one outside of official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilisation as we know it. Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts, "Nuclear War" by Annie Jacobsen is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons for ever.
Book
This is a fascinating book that sheds light on early attempts to predict the future using data-driven forecasts and models – long before big data and social media dominated our lives. Jill Lepore takes us on a journey through the history of the Simulmatics Corporation, which in the 1960s attempted to control society through data analysis – first from 5th Avenue in New York for commercial marketing, then in the 1960 election campaign for John F. Kennedy, and at one point even in the Vietnam War. Their story impressively shows how technological developments and early forms of data analysis influenced the political landscape and continue to change our understanding of democracy and power to this day. But it also shows where the limits of the technologisation of democracy lie.
Podcast
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind and Nobel Prize laureate, in conversation with Lex Fridman. One central focus of contemporary elite theory is artificial intelligence (AI), as emerging elites redefine the political economy. To understand the nature of the technology ahead, give it a listen.
Series
"We're steeped in liberal culture" – many conservatives claim that we are saturated with left-wing liberal culture. They say that everything, from films and television to music, is ‘woke’ and ‘out of touch’. However, some productions are particularly successful in reaching conservative audiences. The neo-Western series "Yellowstone", starring Kevin Costner, tells stories about family ties, loyalty, resistance to the state, the conflict between the urban coastal mentality and that of the north-west, and the connection to the land itself.
Podcast
There are more conservative podcasts than there is time to listen to them all. But Ross Douthat's “Interesting Times” is worth the 45 minutes a week. His guests are mostly conservatives, some very well-known such as Peter Thiel and Vice President JD Vance, others increasingly well- known such as Oren Cass, or (for many of us) yet to be discovered such as publisher Jonathan Keeperman.
Book
In 2018, Deneen published what I still consider to be the sharpest conservative diagnosis of our times. In my view, it is essential reading. Oren Cass often sounds like an echo of Deneen.
In an interview with Euronews, retired US Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges emphasised that Ukraine's victory is crucial for US prosperity and global stability, amid concerns about reducing US military presence in Europe.
Euronews
UBS, ZKB, Postfinance und diverse weitere Institute starten ab sofort mit Open Banking für Privatkunden.
SRF Wirtschaft
Eisgruber has spoken at events in Princeton, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Cambridge, Mass., and other cities, and has brought his message to a range of news outlets.
Princeton University
More than 14,000 students on study visas sought asylum this year to June 2025 according to Home Office figures.
bbc
Transport and Defence MEPs call urgently for easier movement of troops and military equipment across the EU by removing internal borders and upgrading infrastructure.Committee on Security and DefenceCommittee on Transport and Tourism Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP
Europäisches Parlament
The industrial age returns: Is Europe ready? Expert comment LToremark 24 November 2025 Europe can achieve more than pessimists assume. But it requires alignment and political decisiveness. The 19th century German economist and political theorist Friedrich List once argued that ‘the power of a nation is based upon the development of its productive forces’. As Europe finds itself grappling with an identity crisis amid the most consequential geopolitical shifts since the end of Second World War, it is coming to terms with the hard truth that in great power competition, industrial might drives all other forms of power. Europe is belatedly confronting how much of its influence rested on economic gravity it can no longer take for granted – nor sustain any longer. For the past two decades, the EU mistook regulatory leadership for strategic insulation. To assert its geopolitical relevance, defend its sovereignty and build a third way between the United States and China, Europe – more precisely the European Union (EU) – will need to radically transform its economy to become a credible competitor in the new industrial age. There will be no European power without a home-grown cutting-edge industry fit for a century driven by the twin transitions of digitization and carbon neutrality.These transitions are reshaping global power across the world. Platform economics, AI computing, critical minerals, resilient grids and low-carbon industrial ecosystems now set the norms of strategic weight. Meanwhile, Europe’s exposure to coercive dependencies — from gas pipelines to semiconductor supply chains — has revealed how fragile a post-industrial comfort zone can become in a world reverting to hard power. Related work Mario Draghi’s competitiveness report sets a political test for the EU For the past two decades, the EU mistook regulatory leadership for strategic insulation. But without productive depth in energy, technology, advanced manufacturing and scale finance, even the most sophisticated rulebook cannot anchor geopolitical relevance. Europe is now waking up to industrial reality and has begun to rethink its strategy. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently warned that Europe needs a new mindset, and move its focus from regulation to capability-building. But is it too late to catch up to those leading the charge?Europe’s strategic opportunitiesEurope can achieve more than pessimists assume — if leaders act with coherenceand speed. Europe has the raw material for influence. What it lacks is alignment and, above all, political decisiveness. The recent launch of EuroStack is a step in the right direction. The initiative aims to build a secure, sovereign cloud and AI computing infrastructure for Europe, to reduce dependence on non-European platforms. The bloc also retains strengths in industrial automation, clean-tech engineering, automotive electrification, robotics and advanced materials. The European Chips Act, though modest compared to US and Asian programmes, can consolidate Europe’s niche strengths in power electronics and industrial semiconductors — critical for electric vehicles (EVs), renewables and next-generation manufacturing. In energy, offshore wind, green hydrogen, grid modernization and solar manufacturing can anchor a cheaper, cleaner and more secure ecosystem — if permitting accelerates and scale is pursued collectively.Three axes of political integration will be crucial to sustain the momentum and achieve substantial gains. First is capital formation, via an integrated capital markets union (CMU). Second is industrial deployment, through mission-driven innovation agencies (a European DARPA). Third is joint procurement and shared infrastructure, especially for hydrogen, semiconductors and AI computing.Europe has the raw material for influence. What it lacks is alignment and, above all, political decisiveness.Structural obstacles Related work The rise of Reform, the AfD and RN is more than a blip – so what happens if the E3 goes far right? Some obvious and deeply rooted structural obstacles remain. And at a time when the continent’s shift to the hard right is accelerating, any attempt to lift them will be akin to walking through a minefield. Financial fragmentation means European savings do not translate into European investment in support of European tech scale-up. Without a functioning capital markets union, the continent cannot finance gigafactories, semiconductor fabs, hydrogen valleys or cloud-AI clusters. As the 2024 Draghi Report notes, Europe invests less not because it lacks capital, but because it cannot mobilize it — and when it can, it remains much less profitable than in the US.Regulatory divergence weakens scale. Telecoms, data, energy and transport remain balkanized — a continental handicap in sectors defined by network effects. And then German hesitation comes into play. Berlin’s instinctive caution — fiscal orthodoxy, coalition constraints, reluctance to embrace strategic debt — acts as a major brake on Europe’s structural reform trajectory, one that could recast the single market as a pivotal source of financing for the EU’s industrial transformation. Slow progress on grids, hydrogen corridors and industrial incentives reflects a deeper unwillingness to transition from an export-driven model to a resilience-driven one. But Germany’s reluctance is not just political, it is also structural. Its banking system is designed to protect regional lending rather than finance innovation at scale. It has long been identified as a major barrier to deeper capital-markets integration and high-growth investment in Europe, limiting cross-border financial intermediation and risk-sharing across the Eurozone.Overstated risks, overlooked strengths Related work Greece’s LNG energy hub ambitions will help EU needs now – but should not shape long-term policy It would be a mistake, however, to only focus on Europe’s structural slowness. Some of its perceived weaknesses are less structural than the prevailing narrative suggests. On AI: The EU’s absence of consumer platforms obscures its real strengths: industrial AI, robotics, embedded systems, autonomy and safety engineering — domains where value will accumulate as AI becomes infrastructure. Its industrial software ecosystem (SAP, Siemens, Dassault Systèmes) remains a global asset.On batteries: The tired cliché is that ‘Europe lost the battery race’ but gigafactories are scaling across the continent, in Sweden, France, Hungary and Spain. Europe is also emerging as a frontrunner in solid-state, sodium-ion and LFP technologies.
Chatham House
