Book Launch Event: The Oligarchs' Grip, Nov. 8
October 31, 2023
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
As The University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business Professor of Entrepreneurship David Lingelbach and his co-author Valentina Rodriguez Guerra prepare to launch their new book, The Oligarchs' Grip: Fusing Wealth and Power, the school will host a celebration of this major publishing success on Wednesday, Nov. 8 beginning at 4 p.m. in Room 412 of the Bogomolny Library, 1420 Maryland Ave. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited and an online R.S.V.P. is requested. The event includes networking and an interactive learning opportunity with the co-authors. Attendance details are listed below.
The Oligarchs' Grip is the first-ever guide to oligarchs as a global and historical phenomenon. Today, more than 20 oligarchs serve as heads of state or government in countries such as Russia, South Africa, Lebanon, and El Salvador. Many have a net worth in excess of $1 billion, and they all—whether directly or indirectly—impact our daily lives. Who are they and how have they come to control so much of the modern world? What lessons can we learn from them, and what might the future hold?
In The Oligarchs’ Grip: Fusing Wealth and Power, Prof. Lingelbach and oligarch researcher Rodruiguez Guerra draw upon more than a quarter century of research—including conversations with Vladimir Putin—as well as case studies and dozens of historical examples to develop the first-ever model revealing the strategies oligarchs employ to fuse wealth and power, and transition between the two. This model gives insight into how oligarchs use multiple control mechanisms to exploit an increasingly uncertain world.
""Oligarchs are, arguably, the main political actors of our era. Any attempt to try and understand who they are, what they are doing, and how they are doing it, is a worthy contribution to public debate," says David Siegel, assistant professor at St. Joseph's University in Brooklyn, N.Y. "The Oligarchs' Grip offers extraordinary intellectual value. This book provides a much-needed correction to so much academic literature, but even more so to popular culture and journalism."
About the Co-authors
David Lingelbach is professor of entrepreneurship for the Merrick School of Business at The University of Baltimore. He was educated at MIT, London School of Economics and Political Science, and University of Exeter, from which he received a Ph.D. Prior to becoming an academic, Lingelbach served in senior roles in finance and international development, including as CEO of Bank of America's businesses in the former Soviet Union. He has been a Fulbright Scholar (Myanmar/Burma, 2018-19) and Fulbright Specialist (Colombia, 2021) and has been nominated twice for an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Valentina Rodríguez Guerra is an author, oligarch researcher, and graduate student in business administration, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She has received awards for her work from NASA and the Colombian Ministry of Education.
To attend the Nov. 8 book event, fill out the R.S.V.P. here.
Learn more about Prof. Lingelbach and the Merrick School of Business.