Elites and the People in Global Power Relations

Ferran Izquierdo-Brichs is a retired professor of international relations at Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research is focused on the sociology of power and the Arab world. He has published numerous articles on these issues, and in recent years the books: Social Mobilization in Morocco: Lessons Learned for a Historically Informed Activism (ibidem Verlag, 2023, with J.L. Mateo Dieste, L. Feliu Martínez and N. Ribas-Mateos), Political Regimes and Neopatrimonialism in Central Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, with F. Serra-Massansalvador), and Communist Parties in the Middle East: 100 Years of History (Routledge, 2019, with L. Feliu).John Etherington is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Public Law of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. He has published on a variety of topics, including nationalism, territorial governance in the European Union, and political Islam. His publications include “Nationalism, Exclusion and Violence: A Territorial Approach”, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 7, 3 (2007); “Nationalism, National Identity and Territory: Jacint Verdaguer and the Catalan renaixença”, Ethnic and Racial Studies 33, 10 (2010); and Political Islam in a Time of Revolt (Springer, 2017, with F. Izquierdo and L. Feliu).Guillem Farrés-Fernández is a lecturer of international relations at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and a member of the Research Group on International Relations and International Law. He specialises in international conflicts, the theoretical debate in international relations, and the Middle East and North Africa region. His publications include “Reanalysing International Conflicts: Proposals from the Sociology of Power”, International Studies 56, no. 4 (2019): 255–71; and “Security Sector Reform and the Competition for Power in Lebanon”, Contemporary Arab Affairs 12, no. 1 (2019): 39–54.

"This book asks the questions that matter and offers genuinely novel answers. In a world where the boundaries between internal and external have dissolved, power reveals itself in all its complexity—relational, multidimensional, and drawn from vastly diverse resources. The authors map a competition whose rules have fundamentally shifted from an era when territory was destiny to one where finance and global elites set the terms, reducing states to necessary yet non-determinant resources. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the deep structures of contemporary power."- Laura Feliu i Martínez, Senior Lecturer of International Relations, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona"This book is essential reading for academic and policy audiences alike. The authors equip readers with critical tools to understand the interplay between capital and power competition in both domestic and international spheres. This is a vital addendum to discussions on rentierism while deepening our understanding of the role of external finance in domestic politics and international relations. Scholars and policy makers who seek to understand the political dynamics around financing for development and reform should study this text closely."- Timothy E. Kaldas, Deputy Director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy

• 1 Introduction: The Different Accumulation of Power (DAP) approach 2 Theory and System 3 Actors 4 Relations: competition and alliances 5 Resources 6 Structure 7 The function of theory 8 Bibliography