Abstract:
In the contemporary political setting, the emergence of transnationalism represents a
significant challenge to traditional state-centred depictions of international relations and
raises many questions concerning its purpose, legitimacy and effects. This study is
concerned with one aspect of the transnational debate: the dynamics of power that drive
consensus formation within informal, and collaborative, elite transnational networks.
Situated in debates related to international relations, political economy, policy science,
political sociology and social network theory, this study identifies the role played by
transnational elites in articulating, as well as interpreting, structural determinants of
policy. In short, transnational elite interactions are responsible, often unconsciously, for
the legitimisation of pervasive social constructs within the wider elite community. The
process of legitimisation within such settings is highly contested and, as a consequence,
power relations are critical to our understanding of eventual consensus.
Utilising Steven Lukes’s (1974) third dimensional form of power, this study considers
the discrete mechanisms of preference formation at play within transnational elite
networks. Exploring processes of socialisation, acculturation, familiarisation and
fraternisation within such communities, the complex, and highly personal, demands of
elite membership are revealed. The study suggests that these demands have a
considerable bearing upon the nature and substance of consensus formation activity
within elite networks. It also makes clear, however, that any resulting consensus is far
from absolute and highly idiosyncratic.
This qualitative study is the first of its kind concerned with the interactions of
transnational elites. It reports the findings of interviews conducted with sixteen
members of the Atlantic transnational network – arguably the most powerful and
interconnected of all transnational networks. In presenting an analysis of the first-hand
accounts of these individuals, and exploring the dynamics of power within such a
context, this study represents an original contribution to knowledge in the field.
