Episode Summary
Cecilia Rikap explains how today’s big tech hegemons build intellectual monopolies and use their power for corporate planning beyond ownership.
This episode was recorded during a live event with Cecilia Rikap, hosted by the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation Berlin. Many thanks to everybody involved!
For information on the event, see: https://www.rosalux.de/en/event/es_detail/2MGCX
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If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:
Democratic planning – an information website
https://www.democratic-planning.com/
Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1
Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
International Network for Democratic Economic Planning
https://www.indep.network/
Democratic Planning Research Platform:
https://www.planningresearch.net/
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Shownotes
Cecilia Rikap at University College London (UCL):
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/94616-cecilia-rikap
Cecilias upcoming book:
Rikap, C. (2025). The Rulers. Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud. Verso Books.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790833/the-rulers-by-cecilia-rikap/
Rikap, C., & Lundvall, B.-Å. (2021). The Digital Innovation Race: Conceptualizing the Emerging New World Order. Springer Nature.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-89443-6#overview
Rikap, C. (2021). Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered. Routledge.
https://www.routledge.com/Capitalism-Power-and-Innovation-Intellectual-Monopoly-Capitalism-Uncovered/Rikap/p/book/9780367750299?srsltid=AfmBOoohn2o3_THE5S57rt4kTs62Fp3kv5AUNj8rUTdn7ywK9LFhfEro
Rikap C., Durand, C., Paraná, E., Gerbaudo, P. and Marx P. (2024). Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty: A Roadmap to build a Digital Stack for People and the Planet.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2024/dec/reclaiming-digital-sovereignty
Bensussan, H., Durand, C., Rikap, C. (2023) 100 years of Corporate Planning. From Industrial Capitalism to Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism through the lenses of the Harvard Business Review (1922-2021).
https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:171107
Rikap, C. (2023) Mapping the Cloud. Big Tech taking the Sky by Storm. CITYPERC Working Paper, No. 2023-05.
https://www.econstor.eu/handle