Elites and Democracy

Name: Elites and Democracy
Price: 59.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9780691181554

Hugo Drochon

$59.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Miscellaneous
01 May 2026

Politics & government; Political science & theory; Comparative politics; Political structures: democracy

Why elites always rule democracies

and why recognising that reality can help us respond to the crisis of democracy today.

A central paradox of democracies is that they are always ruled by elites. What can democracy mean in this context? Today, it is often said that a populist revolt against elites is driving democratic politics throughout the West. But in Elites and Democracy, Hugo Drochon argues that democracy is more accurately and usefully understood as a perpetual struggle among competing elites

between rising elites and ruling elites. Real political change comes from the interaction between social movements and elite political institutions such as parties. But, although true democracy

the rule of the people

may never be achieved, striving towards it can bring about worthwhile democratic results.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, and Robert Michels put forward 'elite' theories of democracy and gave us terms such as the 'ruling class' and 'elites' itself. Drawing on their work and tracing the history of democratic thought through figures such as Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl, C. Wright Mills, and Raymond Aron, Elites and Democracy reveals that this fundamentally elitist basis of democracy

democracy understood as competition between elites

was there all along. The challenge is to think it anew.

Moving away from procedural or principled conceptions of democracy, Elites and Democracy develops a dynamic theory of democracy, one grounded in movement. With current politics defined by a populist backlash against elites, dynamic democracy offers the tools we urgently need to understand our contemporary predicament and to act upon it.

By: Hugo Drochon
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm,
ISBN: 9780691181554
ISBN 10: 0691181551
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 01 May 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Hugo Drochon is associate professor of political theory at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Nietzsche's Great Politics (Princeton).

Reviews for Elites and Democracy

""A cogent argument that democracies are always ruled by a minority. . . . A timely, provocative analysis of the nature of power in supposedly democratic polities."" * Kirkus Reviews *