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theory. I will then discuss what implications this statement will have on modern democracy and the questions it forces us to confront like ‘do political parties represent the people?’ and whether we are in fact a democratic society. Lastly I will conclude and pinpoint what this essay has discovered.

Democracy is term which is used to describe a government by the people, exercised either directly by the people or through elected representatives. In democracy the common people are considered to be the primary source of political power. The idea of democracy is a topic of great controversy and has many different angles from which it is considered. The idea of democracy originated in Ancient Greece and has since evolved and bought about a great complexity and diversity from a large variety of concepts and ideas used at different periods in history.

Democracy has been discussed greatly by a number of philosophers and political theorists one of which was a man called Robert Michel’s. Michel’s was a German sociologist who wrote on the political behaviour of elites and contributed to elite theory. Michel’s explores the idea of democracy in his book “Political Parties - A sociological study of the oligarchial tendencies of modern democracy (1958)” and questions whether the mass actually do rule and whether the ideal of democracy will ever be reached. The UK presently uses an indirect form of democracy known has representative democracy, in which representatives are elected to govern on behalf of the people.

In theory politicians are therefore publicly accountable and can be removed from office, however in practice this doesn’t often prove to be the case. Michels (1958) argues that any political system eventually evolves into an oligarchy this is known as the “Iron Law of Oligarchy”. An oligarchy is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small elite segment in society, Michels (1958) states “whether they are distinguished by wealth, family or military prowess”. Michels (1958) states:

‘The majority of human beings, in a condition of eternal tutelage, are predestined to submit to the dominion of a small minority, and must constitute the pedestal of oligarchy.’

The existence of oligarchies is particularly a problem within democratic and socialist parties. In the past socialist parties were small, decentralised, and relatively democratic. The growth of these parties and the intricacy of organisation created labour divides and leaders gradually took over decision making and the creation of policies. Michels (1958) states:

‘The mass within the party membership lack the time and inclination for full involvement with the political process, this leads to elites emerging which control the flows of information and organizational dynamics of the party.’

It is apparent that leadership is an essential element to all successful political organisations. Michel’s argues that socialist and democratic political organisations all aspire to socialism and/or democratic rule, but there organisations will become elitist and conservative. The concept of oligarchies is closely linked with Elite theory as described by Pareto, Mosca and Michels (1958). Pareto argued that all societies are dominated by elites. He also argued that this is needed as the mass are incompetent and incapable of r本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。