Though it’s rarely acknowledged, while we may still live in democracies, they’re increasingly overshadowed by the rule of the rich – or ‘plutocracy’. (Some call it oligarchy – rule by the few, but this fails to highlight their wealth.) As the economic power of the rich has grown, so has their political power. Yes, everyone still has the vote, but it’s the rich who dominate politics.

How has this happened? How has the plutocracy, particularly the financial elite, been able to get away with crashing major economies, while maintaining their power and making others pay for its mistakes? In the UK, they’ve got away with it by blaming the public sector, the previous Labour government, and penalising and stigmatising those who have least to do with the crisis – the unemployed and other people on benefits. Remarkably, despite being key players in the most serious economic crisis for 80 years, the City of London and Wall Street have effectively seen off any threats to their power, and deepened their grip on politics. How come they seem to control everything when no one voted for them?

In this part, we look at how this power works, how it flows between governments, companies, lobbyists, think-tanks and other organisations, and how it uses tax havens as power bases. We then go from the ugly – corruption, crime and the muzzling of the watchdogs – to the apparently benign – philanthropy. We end with some views from the plutocracy regarding how they might continue their domination of economics and politics.