Political Parties by Berger, Arthur Asa;

Short description:

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

Long description:

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.

Table of Contents:

Introduction; Causes of Leadership: Introductory—The Need for Organization; 2: A. Technical and Administrative Causes of Leadership: Mechanical and Technical Impossibility of Direct Government by the Masses; 3: A. Technical and Administrative Causes of Leadership: The Modern Democratic Party as a Fighting Party, Dominated by Militarist Ideas and Methods; 1: B. Psychological Causes of Leadership: The Establishment of a Customary Right to the Office of Delegate; 2: B. Psychological Causes of Leadership: The Need for Leadership Felt by the Mass; 3: B. Psychological Causes of Leadership: The Political Gratitude of the Masses; 4: B. Psychological Causes of Leadership: The Cult of Veneration Among the Masses; 5: B. Psychological Causes of Leadership: Acessory Qualities Requisite to Leadership; 6: B. Psychological Causes of Leadership: Accessory Peculiarities of the Masses; 1: C. Intellectual Factors: Superiority of the Professional Leaders in Respect to Culture, and Their Indispensa-bility; the Formal and Real Incompetence of the Mass; Two: Autocratic Tendencies of Leaders; 1: The Stability of Leadership; 2: The Financial Power of the Leaders and of the Party; 3: The Leaders and the Press; 4: The Position of the Leaders in Relation to the Masses in Actual Practice; 5: The Struggle Between the Leaders and the Masses; 6: The Struggle Among the Leaders Themselves; 7: Bureaucracy. Centralizing and Decentralizing Tendencies; Three: The Exercise of Power and Its Psychological Reaction upon the Leaders; 1: Psychological Metamorphosis of the Leaders; 2: Bonapartist Ideology; 3: Identification of the Party with the Leader (“Le Parti c’est Moi”); Four: Social Analysis of Leadership; 1: Introductory. The Class Struggle and Its Disintegrating Influence upon the Bourgeoisie; 2: Analysis of the Bourgeois Elements in the Socialist Leadership; 3: Social Changes Resulting from Organization; 4: The Need for the Differentiation of the Working Class; 5: Labor Leaders of Proletarian Origin; 6: Intellectuals, and the Need for Them in the Working-Class Parties; Five: Attempts to Restrict the Influence of the Leaders; 1: The Referendum; 2: The Postulate of Renunciation; 3: Syndicalism as Prophylactic; 4: Anarchism as Prophylactic; Six: Synthesis: The Oligarchical Tendencies of Organization; 1: The Conservative Basis of Organization; 2: Democracy and the Iron Law of Oligarchy; 3: Party-Life in War-Time; 4: Final Considerations