Are American “oligarchs” threatening democracy?

They rule over large parts of the American economy, from tech to space, to the point of threatening democracy, according to President Joe Bidenwhich gives them influence similar to that of oligarchs in other countries.

“An oligarchy is taking shape in America” and it “concretely threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” the outgoing head of state warned on Wednesday during a farewell address to the country.

Joe Biden is thus worried about “the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-rich people” and the “dangerous consequences if their power is left without limits”. He spoke of the rise of a “technological-industrial complex” with major influence, a term which recalled the “military-industrial complex” that one of his predecessors, Dwight Eisenhower, had warned against in 1961. .

Guests at the inauguration

Symbol of the arrival at the top of this generation of entrepreneurs which marked the beginning of the 21st century, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg, boss of Meta, and Elon Musk, at the helm of Tesla and SpaceX in particular, will be present among the guests of honor at Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremonyMonday.

After keeping a distance from the real estate developer during his first term, these 2.0 bosses ostensibly moved closer to him, in particular Elon Musk, who dropped more than a quarter of a billion dollars to support Donald Trump during the presidential campaign.

From start-up to behemoth

The term oligarchy refers to the collusion between the political government and major economic decision-makers, who can benefit from favors and advantages that hinder the free functioning of the market. The word entered common parlance with the fall of the Soviet Union, which saw Russian power distribute control of entire sectors of industry to a handful of individuals.

The big figures in tech started from nothing, set up start-ups which ended up becoming juggernauts of the American and global economy, without contribution from political power, even if several of these companies now have contracts major with the government.

Great captains of industry

“I don’t think it’s fair to compare Musk to the oligarchs of authoritarian regimes,” said Lorenzo Castellania, professor of history at Luiss University in Rome. “He fits more into a very American typology, notably the category of great captains of industry who appeared on the political scene at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century,” argues the academic.

None of the economic barons of this period often called the “golden age” of industrialization in the United States, from banker John Pierpont Morgan to steel king Andrew Carnegie, displayed direct proximity to the governments of the era.

Heirs of Rockefeller and Carnegie

David Lingelbach, professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Baltimore, does not hesitate to use the term oligarchs to designate the current class of big bosses. “Almost no one has had so much power in the history of the United States,” he says. “Only the era of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie is comparable.”

“The American system has been a democracy for most of its history, despite the presence of oligarchs,” he continues. “But what’s happening today is different.” For him, it is not so much their fortune or the size of their companies that worries, but the fact “that they use disinformation to undermine the foundations of American democracy, under the guise of defending freedom of expression”.

Sustainable coexistence?

Since taking control of Twitter, which has now become moderation.

Mark Zuckerberg decided, last week, to renounce fact-checking on social networks controlled by MetaFacebook and Instagram. “It’s this powerful trend that we’ve never seen before,” says David Lingelbach.

For Lorenzo Castellania, the weight of egos could nevertheless weaken the links between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, whose proximity is significantly stronger than with the other big names in tech. “One of the most interesting developments of this mandate,” according to him, “will be to see if this coexistence lasts.”

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