Abstract
Organized between 1952 and 1954, the Bilderberg Group, later renamed Bilderberg Meetings, quickly developed as a high-level, informal transatlantic forum for the exchange of views among West European and North American political and economic elites. Bilderberg seems to encapsulate the complexities of political networks and the difficulty of analysing structure, functions and evolution of these elites over time. A European initiative, Bilderberg stretched out to most of non- communist Europe, the United States (US) and Canada. Rooted in the political and ideological Cold War tensions, it is still in existence today when the West is more than ever a problematic notion, and globalization seems to question the relevance of purely Atlantic structures. While Bilderberg refused any policy-making ambitions, it aspired to influence; while striving for discretion, it constantly gave rise to controversy. It therefore constitutes an interesting case for exploring the role of transnational networks in European governance. With its transatlantic dimension, the chapter not only complements those by Brigitte Leucht and Sigfrido M. Ramírez Pérez, but also offers a backdrop against which the specificities of European-centred political networks, discussed as the main theme of the book, can be better understood. It also suggests that the plurality of European and Atlantic organizations created after World War II gave rise to an increased fluidity at the level of non-state networks and elite patterns of cooperation beyond what the institutional divide would imply.
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Notes
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Aubourg, V. (2010). The Bilderberg Group: Promoting European Governance Inside an Atlantic Community of Values. In: Kaiser, W., Leucht, B., Gehler, M. (eds) Transnational Networks in Regional Integration. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230283268_3
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