The Jouissance of Philanthrocapitalism: Enjoyment as a Post-Political Factor

In Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World and Why We Should Let Them, the US Business Editor of The Economist, Matthew Bishop, and his co-author Michael Green celebrate the potential for a new form of philanthropy to resolve problems of disease and extreme poverty in Africa and beyond. Unlike traditional philanthropists, who were content to write cheques for good causes, ‘philanthrocapitalists’ such as Bill Gates and George Soros closely monitor their projects, transforming development aid by infusing it with the business principles of innovation, efficiency, and entrepreneurship. Bishop and Green argue that philanthrocapitalism provides the potential basis for a new social contract in Western societies, in which increasing inequality is to be accepted in exchange for ‘the rich regarding their surplus wealth as the property of the many, and themselves as trustees whose duty it is to administer it for the common good’ (Bishop and Green 2008: 15). The book has received widespread acclaim in the international business press and amongst the luminaries of global liberalism.