Description
The reality of oligarchic power is increasingly undeniable. As the world approaches levels of inequality last seen in the 19th century (Piketty, 2014), the consolidation of oligarchic class power has become explicitly evident. The oligarchs are not at the gates: they’re inside the White House. In light of this, our workshop invites participants from all branches of anti-oligarchic thought to discuss how to conceptualize oligarchy and oligarchic power, and to develop responses to its resurgence.The primary challenge for political and democratic theorists today is to forge new conceptual and normative tools that adequately comprehend and respond to the threat of oligarchy. The first goal for such a theoretical reformation must be to secure an intellectually solid conceptualisation of oligarchy and oligarchic power. Oligarchy – literally: arkhein, ‘rule’, of the oligoi, ‘few’ (Indridason, 2008) – is an ancient idea, associated with the rule of the numerically few rich since antiquity (Aristotle, 1996). More recent work has focused on Winter’s empirically informed definition, which conceptualises oligarchy as concentrated minority power characterised by ‘the politics of wealth defence by materially endowed actors’ (Winters, 2011: 7). But are either of these definitions still fit for purpose?
Armed with a conceptualisation of oligarchy, however provisional, the second aim of political and democratic theory must be to outline potential solutions. Two approaches towards this goal have begun to crystallise. The first is the plebeian tradition (McCormick, 2011; Vergara 2020). Such plebeian theorists argue for a dichotomous understanding of the political world that distinguishes wealthy elites from the plebeian masses. They seek to control and constrain these wealthy elites through institutional innovations such as renovated tribunates (Arlen & Rossi, 2021; Prinz & Westphal, 2024) or citizen tax-juries (Arlen, 2021), but may also range beyond this (e.g. McCormick, 2025).
A second grouping, emerging from new republican interpretations of Marx, has been the socialist republicans (Muldoon, 2019; Leipold, 2025). Equally committed to a notion of ‘popular government’, such thinkers differ from plebeian thought in emphasising the need for institutional measures that not only contain but eventually transcend social divisions between rich and poor (O’Shea, 2022; Harting, 2023). But are these approaches really so different?
Questions for contributors might include one or many from the following non-exhaustive list:
• What, if anything, is special about modern oligarchy?
• In what ways is modern oligarchy different from capitalism?
• What are affinities and tensions exist between the plebeian and socialist republican positions?
• What, if anything, do these traditions help us see about liberal democracy?
• What tools (institutional or otherwise) should plebeians and other proponents of popular government seek to promote?
• In what ways, if any, are these tools superior to liberal or standard republican approaches?
• How are the historical roots, and the challenges with regard to translatability of such historical inspirations, to be addressed?
• What other ideas, concepts or tools within the history of political thought might be added to supplement existing anti-oligarchic theories?
• What relation do these traditions have to existing mechanisms of controlling power in liberal democracy, such as the rule of law?
11:30–13:00
Registration
12:30–13:45
Lunch
13:45–15:45
Session 1
Haozhe Huang — Digital Oligarchy and the Rethinking of Contestability: A Radical Republican Lens
Lawrence Hamilton — Title TBC
15:45–16:00
Bathroom Break
16:00–18:00
Session 1 (continued)
Matthew Haji-Michael — Recovering the Plebeian Horizon: The Case of the Rule of Law
Maxim van Asseldonk — Oligarchy and the Rule of Law Beyond State Power
18:00–19:00
Wine Reception
19:30
Conference Dinner
Thursday 3 September
09:30–11:30
Session 2
Andreas-Johann Sorger — Oligarchy and Racial Capitalism: Some Historical Considerations
Ondřej Lánský — Oligarchization and Democratic Adaptation in Central and Eastern Europe: The Czech Case
11:30–12:00
Tea and Coffee Break
12:00–13:00
Session 2 (continued)
Niklas Plaetzer — Planetary Aediles: Democratic Counter-Power against Fossil Oligarchy
13:00–14:00
Lunch
14:00–16:00
Session 3
Sean Irving — Beyond Imperium and Dominium: Economic Constitutionalism and Popular Rule
Lore-Marie Junghans — Trade Unions’ Anti-Oligarchic Credentials: The Case for Organizing
16:00–16:30
Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
16:30–17:30
Session 3 (continued)
Alessandro Volpi — From Sovereignty to Suzerainty: A Neo-Feudal Diagnosis of Modern Oligarchy
18:00
Panel Drinks & Dinner
No panel events planned
Participants are free to attend other panels or depart.
| Period | 2 Sept 2026 → 4 Sept 2026 |
|---|---|
| Event title | MANCEPT Workshops 2026 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Manchester, United KingdomShow on map |