Gordon Arlen Postdoctoral Fellow Aufenthalt am Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: September 2020–August 2021Forschungsthema am Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: »Democracy and the Challenge of Oligarchy«Projektbeschreibung: My research project focuses on democratic theory and the normative dimensions of political economy in both a contemporary and historical frame. Specifically, I focus on the complex mechanisms of elite influence concentrated at the very top of the economic pyramid, among a diverse group of people I refer to as ›oligarchs.‹ Oligarchs are agents who maintain personal access to massive concentrated wealth, and who deploy that wealth for discretionary influence in the public domain. This category thus encompasses a range of actors. Some billionaires use their wealth to secure elective office, for example, while others deploy their wealth in more informal ways, as political activists, media moguls, and mega-philanthropists. My current book manuscript, Oligarchs Among Us, provides a historically informed theorization of oligarchic power in contemporary democracies. I develop a set of strategies for conceptualizing oligarchic power, while recognizing that oligarchy and democracy have a complex and intertwined relationship that can be traced through the perspectives of canonical theorists from ancient Greece to the present. Relatedly, I continue to perform research on issues like tax policy, tax sheltering, and the proper role of private philanthropy in a liberal democratic society. I’m interested in the mechanisms through which private wealth can contribute to healthy liberal democracy (i.e. by supporting pluralism and freedom) while also arguing that the political consequences of private wealth must be subjected to proper democratic scrutiny. (Gordon Arlen) Zusammenarbeit: Gordon Arlen folgt einer Einladung von Rainer Forst, Professor für Politische Theorie an der Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main, und dem an der Universität angesiedelten Justitia Centre for Advanced Studies, das von der Alfons und Gertrud Kassel Stiftung gefördert wird. Wissenschaftliches Profil von Gordon ArlenGordon Arlen hat 2017 an der University of Chicago mit einer Arbeit über »Oligarchs Among Us: Confronting Wealth and Power in a Democratic Age« promoviert. Von 2018 bis 2020 war er Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Politikwissenschaft an der Universiteit van Amsterdam.Website: Forschungsschwerpunkte: Geschichte des politischen Denkens, zeitgenössische Demokratietheorie, amerikanisches politisches Denken, globale Gerechtigkeit, normative Perspektiven der politischen ÖkonomieVeröffentlichungen (Auswahl):
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