Political Parties: A Sociological Study Of The Oligarchical Tendencies Of Modern Democracy
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Condition: Fair. Jacket: No dust jacket (remnants of old DJ laid-in). Page Condition: Yellowed, tanning and foxing; minor nick/tears on front pastedown. Markings: unmrkd. Binding condition: Aged but intact. Fold out chart at rear intact.
Published in 1915 and translated into English by Eden and Cedar Paul, Robert Michels' Political Parties stands as one of the most consequential works in the history of political sociology, presenting a devastating and rigorous critique of democratic theory through the lens of organisational behaviour. Michels argues that all complex organisations, regardless of their democratic origins or intentions, inevitably develop into oligarchies — a phenomenon he famously codified as the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Drawing on his meticulous study of European socialist parties and trade unions, he illustrates how the practical necessities of organisation — specialisation, leadership, and bureaucracy — concentrate power in the hands of a few, betraying the very democratic ideals these bodies were formed to champion. The work sits at the intersection of political science, sociology, and philosophy, engaging with the ideas of Max Weber and Gaetano Mosca, and anticipating decades of scholarship on elites, bureaucracy, and institutional power. Michels writes with the precision of a social scientist and the conviction of a disillusioned idealist, producing a text that is as unsettling as it is intellectually rigorous. For anyone who has ever wondered why democratic movements so reliably produce hierarchies, Political Parties remains as provocative and essential a read today as it was over a century ago.
Author: Robert Michels
Format: Hardback
Published: 1915, Hearst's International Library Co.
Genre: Politics & law
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Condition: Fair. Jacket: No dust jacket (remnants of old DJ laid-in). Page Condition: Yellowed, tanning and foxing; minor nick/tears on front pastedown. Markings: unmrkd. Binding condition: Aged but intact. Fold out chart at rear intact.
Published in 1915 and translated into English by Eden and Cedar Paul, Robert Michels' Political Parties stands as one of the most consequential works in the history of political sociology, presenting a devastating and rigorous critique of democratic theory through the lens of organisational behaviour. Michels argues that all complex organisations, regardless of their democratic origins or intentions, inevitably develop into oligarchies — a phenomenon he famously codified as the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Drawing on his meticulous study of European socialist parties and trade unions, he illustrates how the practical necessities of organisation — specialisation, leadership, and bureaucracy — concentrate power in the hands of a few, betraying the very democratic ideals these bodies were formed to champion. The work sits at the intersection of political science, sociology, and philosophy, engaging with the ideas of Max Weber and Gaetano Mosca, and anticipating decades of scholarship on elites, bureaucracy, and institutional power. Michels writes with the precision of a social scientist and the conviction of a disillusioned idealist, producing a text that is as unsettling as it is intellectually rigorous. For anyone who has ever wondered why democratic movements so reliably produce hierarchies, Political Parties remains as provocative and essential a read today as it was over a century ago.