Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy

by Michels,Robert

• ISBN13: 9780765804693
• ISBN10: 0765804697
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-01-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The principle of self-government through political parties, the cornerstone of democracy, has come to be regarded as a solution to the problem of nationality. This is because the principle of nationality entails the acceptance of the idea of popular government. The importance of the principle of nationality is undeniable, and most of the national questions of Western Europe might be solved in accordance with this principle. Matters are complicated by geographical and strategical considerations, such as the difficulty of determining natural frontiers and the frequent need to establish strategic frontiers. Moreover, the principle of nationality cannot help us where nationalities barely exist or where they are entangled in inextricable confusion. The present work is a critical discussion of the problem of democracy. Michels believes that democracy, as an intellectual theory and as a practical movement, has entered upon a critical phase from which exit will be extremely difficult. In this book he analyzes the tendencies that oppose the realization of democracy, and claims that these tendencies can be classified in three ways: dependence upon the nature of the individual; dependence upon the nature of the political structure; and dependence upon the nature of organization. This edition, described by Morris Janowitz as a "classic of modern social science" and by Melvin Tumin as "the beginning of a tradition," offers a landmark study in political science. Following its original publication in 1910, the study and analysis of political parties was established as a new branch of science. Political Parties continues to be a foundation work in the literature and is a necessary addition to the libraries of contemporary political scientists, sociologists, and historians. Robert Michels is considered a founder of political sociology. He was the author of a variety of books including German Social Democracy as an International Association and Proletariat and Bourgeoisie. He wrote regularly for The Archives of Social Science in Germany.Seymour Martin Lipset is Hazel Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at George Mason University and also senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is the author of various works, including Political Man, The First New Nation, and most recently, American Exceptionalism.

Table of Contents

Author's Preface	5	(10)
Introduction	15	(28)
Seymour Martin Lipset
Introduction	43	(18)
1 Democratic Aristocracy and Aristocratic Democracy	43	(9)
2 The Ethical Embellishment of Social Struggles	52	(9)
Part One / Leadership in Democratic Organizations	61	(56)
A. Technical and Administrative Causes of Leadership	61	(20)
1 Introductory--The Need for Organization	61	(2)
2 Mechanical and Technical Impossibility of Direct Government by the Masses	63	(15)
3 The Modern Democratic Party as a Fighting Party, Dominated by Militarist Ideas and Methods	78	(3)
B. Psychological Causes of Leadership	81	(26)
1 The Establishment of a Customary Right to the Office of Delegate	81	(4)
2 The Need for Leadership felt by the Mass	85	(7)
3 The Political Gratitude of the Masses	92	(1)
4 The Cult of Veneration Among the Masses	93	(5)
5 Accessory Qualities Requisite to Leadership	98	(7)
6 Accessory Peculiarities of the Masses	105	(2)
C. Intellectual Factors	107	(10)
1 Superiority of the Professional Leaders in Respect to Culture, and Their Indispensability; the Formal and Real Incompetence of the Mass	107	(10)
Part Two / Autocratic Tendencies of Leaders	117	(88)
1 The Stability of Leadership	117	(12)
2 The Financial Power of the Leaders and of the Party	129	(20)
3 The Leaders and the Press	149	(4)
4 The Position of the Leaders in Relation to the Masses in Actual Practice	153	(14)
5 The Struggle Between the Leaders and the Masses	167	(5)
6 The Struggle Among the Leaders Themselves	172	(16)
7 Bureaucracy. Centralizing and Decentralizing Tendencies	188	(17)
Part Three / The Exercise of Power and Its Psychological Reaction upon the Leaders	205	(22)
1 Psychological Metamorphosis of the Leaders	205	(7)
2 Bonapartist Ideology	212	(8)
3 Identification of the Party with the Leader ("Le Parti c'est Moi")	220	(7)
Part Four / Social Analysis of Leadership	227	(80)
1 Introductory. The Class Struggle and Its Disintegrating Influence upon the Bourgeoisie	227	(11)
2 Analysis of the Bourgeois Elements in the Socialist Leadership	238	(16)
3 Social Changes Resulting from Organization	254	(17)
4 The Need for the Differentiation of the Working Class	271	(6)
5 Labor Leaders of Proletarian Origin	277	(16)
6 Intellectuals, and the Need for Them in the Working-Class Parties	293	(14)
Part Five / Attempts to Restrict the Influence of the Leaders	307	(26)
1 The Referendum	307	(5)
2 The Postulate of Renunciation	312	(5)
3 Syndicalism as Prophylactic	317	(8)
4 Anarchism as Prophylactic	325	(8)
Part Six / Synthesis: The Oligarchical Tendencies of Organization	333	(40)
1 The Conservative Basis of Organization	333	(9)
2 Democracy and the Iron Law of Oligarchy	342	(15)
3 Party-Life in War-Time	357	(7)
4 Final Considerations	364	(9)
Index of Names	373