Philanthropy: power with in international relations

In international relations, a long list of private donors has joined governments in addressing global problems and their financial contributions are mind-boggling. We argue that the transformational potential of philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates and Michael Otto relies largely on mechanisms of power with others, i.e. cooperation and learning. There are situations in which power is neither attributed solely to A nor to B, but to both. Comparing the cases of Gates and Otto, however, we simultaneously emphasize that power with is not exercised independently from power over dimensions. If we simply assume philanthropists to be do-gooders, we may become inattentive to often hidden or invisible conflicts of interests and values.