Customer Reviews

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

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In the many arguments I've had over the merits of collective action, I have found few arguments as useful as Michels' "iron Law of Oligarchy", stating that even the most egalitarian orginizations wind up having their decisions made by a select few at the top. Morever, institutional reforms will not help, since this tendency is inherent to complex orginization. Surveying the intensification of power across a host of socialist parties and publications, Michels provides much empirical evidence. Too much, at times, as after about 200 pages of stories about leadership groups developing in socialist orginizations, the book starts to drag a little bit. It is all worth it, however, as the "iron law of oligarchy" is one of the most fascinating arguments you'll ever find in a book about politics. Seymour Martin Lipset's introductory comments provide interesting background info.

Michels was a member of a socialist movement who wondered if one could ever have what today is called participatory democracy. The result is this wonderful book, in which Michels discovers the "Iron Law of Oligarchy", that even in the most egalatarian movements, elites will call most of the shots. Michels goes further than many elite theorists who simply claim that this has always been so: he claims that elite management is inherent to complex organizations. Whether you agree or disagree, you must read this man and debate his ideas!

This is not a review of the text itself, but rather just of the production value of this edition. The production is AWFUL. It was clearly just scanned by someone and imported into Word and printed out. Chapter breaks aren't where they should be. Footnotes are just thrown into the text. One chapter just starts italicizing for no reason halfway through. The index is useless. The book is basically unreadable. I've never been so disappointed at spending $20 on a book. Buy a different version by a different publisher and save yourself the money.