How technocratic is the power elite? A new approach and evidence from a mixed-method study of the Danish power elite

Claims about the ‘rise of the technocrats’ have a long history and haverecently gained new attention in the context of debates on economicpolicy, neoliberalism and the mounting conflict between technocracyand populism. Against this background, we conduct the firstcomprehensive study of technocratic dominance in a national powerelite, based on unique bibliographical and relational data on the 423individuals in the Danish power elite, as well as in-depth interviewswith 30 of its most prominent members. On the level of overall elitecomposition, half of the Danish power elite is found to match theprofessional identity of a technocrat, although subject to significantsectoral variation, based on educational background and experiencefrom technocratic career hubs. The qualitative data indicates thatprofessional identity can be linked to technocratic ideology andpreferences for depoliticised governance, but also provides evidence ofa near-consensus on progressive managerialism, paternalistic elitismand centrist pragmatism, which include members of the power elite notformally trained as technocrats. We suggest that this calls for increasedattention to the way in which economic policies and crisis managementare shaped by broader technocratic ideology and beliefs, which are partof a mounting conflict with populism.