Our Global Nomenklatura

Henry Srebrnik, [Sumerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

The nomenklatura in the old Soviet Union referred to a select list or class of people from which appointees for top-level positions were drawn. They were the political elite of the society.

The Soviet state is long gone, but western countries, too, have an equivalent pool from which plum jobs, domestic and foreign, are awarded. These people initially may have been elected to office, but when their terms are over – either through defeat or retirement – they often flit from one well-paying stint to another.

They may use the contacts made while in office to establish foundations for various causes, keeping themselves part of the informal governance of their country, or even the world.

The best example is the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, whose stated mission is to “strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.”

It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, but more important, has enabled Bill Clinton, though out of office since 2000, to remain one of the most influential people on the planet.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who left office in 2007, has also been cashing in on his former position.

He has a commercial consultancy, Tony Blair Associates, which allows him to provide strategic advice on political and economic trends and governmental reform.

The profits from the firm go towards supporting Blair’s “work on faith, Africa and climate change.” To this end, he has set up two major international charities, the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

Of course fostering good governance in Africa, designed to combat corruption, may also establish excellent contacts with local leaders with the power to award contracts.

In Canada, Kim Campbell and Joe Clark have been dining out for decades on their very brief periods as Progressive Conservative prime ministers of Canada. (Readers will recall she was here recently as part of the “Bold Vision” conference.)

In 1996, Campbell was appointed consul general to Los Angeles by the Liberal Jean Chretien government. She has also chaired the Council of Women World Leaders, and served as President of the International Women’s Forum.

Since 2008 Campbell has been Chair of the Steering Committee of the Washington-based World Movement for Democracy, a global network of people “who have come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy.”

She is also a member of the board of numerous other international non-governmental “civil society” groups, including the Arab Democracy Foundation, the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, and the Naissance Capital’s Women’s Leadership Fund.

Joe Clark is vice chair of the Global Leadership Foundation, which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law.

Clark serves with the Carter Center, founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which is “guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering.” Clark routinely travels overseas as part of the centre’s international observing activities.

Stephen Lewis led the Ontario New Democratic Party for much of the 1970s, though he never won an election. Nonetheless, in 1984 he was appointed Canada’s United Nations ambassador, by Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

From 1995 to 1999, Lewis was Deputy Director of UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and from 2001 until 2006, he worked as United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

He is now the board chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, an organization that helps people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Lewis is also an immediate past member of the Board of Directors of the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

The recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Malala Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012, has, at the young age of 17, already joined this club, without even serving in an elected position. She has now created the Malala Fund, which she uses to advocate for girls’ rights to an equal education.

I assume these various foundations and organizations are doing good work. Nonetheless, none of these people has to answer to any electorate or public body for their activities, but only to their rich sponsors and donors.

As the Australian journalist James Rose wrote recently, the international system has become “a gravy train” for the global elite, “as they traverse the planet in pampered isolation.” Nice work if you can get it!