Political class
Encyclopedia
Political class, or political elite is a concept in comparative political science originally developed by Italian political theorist theory of Gaetano Mosca
Gaetano Mosca
Gaetano Mosca was an Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant. He is credited with developing the Theory of Elitism and the doctrine of the Political class and is one of the three members constituting the Italian School of Elitists together with Vilfredo Pareto and Robert...

 (1858-1941). It refers to the relatively small group of activists that is highly aware and active in politics, and from whom the national leadership is largely drawn. As Max Weber
Max Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...

 noted, they not only live "for politics"—like the old notables used to—but make their careers "off politics" as policy specialists and experts on specific fields of public administration Mosca approached the study of the political class by examining the mechanisms of reproduction and renewal of the ruling class; the characteristics of politicians; and the different forms of organization developed in their wielding of power.

Elected legislatures may become dominated by subject-matter specialists, aided by permanent staffs, who become a political class.

The political class is opposed by Populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

 movements that denounce elites as undemocratic.

Comparative elites

The presence or absence of a political class in a country depends on its history. For example Germany (since 1945) has a very weak political class, with a "striking taboo" against the sort of elitism that dominated Germany before 1945, including Imperial Germany, Weimar and the Nazi regime. In sharp contrast France has a very prestigious political class trained in special elite schools.

Britain

Until the 1970s Britain featured a tight-knit political class that emerged from upper class families whose sons came to know each other at elite "public schools" (like Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

) and the "old boy" network, based on Oxford and Cambridge, which dominates public life. After 1970, however, the political class became much more open in terms of the social origins of British politicians and top civil servants. Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) have increasingly been educated at nonelite schools and have been of more modest social backgrounds. Labour MPs, in turn, are increasingly middle class, white-collar and university educated.

Spain

A political class emerged in Spain
History of Spain
The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain...

 during the reign (1833-68) of Queen Isabella II
Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...

. A modern political class emerged in Spain, adapted to the needs of a representative state that was under construction. To bring that about, the circles of power were open to intense renewal, coopting families of provincial gentry networks. The result was a political class composed mostly of jurists and attached to the values and interests of landed property. It was a new ruling class. Although originally inspired by revolutionary principles, it soon limited the circle of power, becoming aristocratic and largely closed to new membership.

Nigeria

Lucas (1998) examines despotic versus infrastructural power in terms of relations between the military leaders and the civilian political class in Nigeria from 1985 to 1993. He concludes that weak states experience a conflict between these two types of power. Despotic power, in sociologist Michael Mann
Michael Mann (sociologist)
Michael Mann is a British-born professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles and Visiting Research Professor at Queen's University Belfast. Mann holds dual British and US citizenships. He received his B.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford in 1963 and his...

's definition, refers to the state's repressive capacities, while infrastructural power refers to its ability to penetrate society and implement its decisions. Whereas leaders cultivate alliances with powerful social groups to realize their infrastructural power, the exercise of despotic power can undermine such patterns of collaboration. In Nigeria, military leaders relied on a number of despotic strategies to extend their control over the political class as part of a promised transition to democracy: many politicians were banned, two government-created political parties were imposed, and elections that yielded outcomes threatening to military interests were annulled. While the military leadership was successful in repressing the politicians, it was unable to restructure the civilian leadership in ways that would further the institutional power of the state. The military's persistent reliance on despotic strategies led to a long-term decline in the integrity and infrastructural capacity of the state.

China

In China
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...

, the country was prevalently agricultural, dominated by an imperial bureaucracy that was crowned by the Mandarins. This was made up of judges, governors, administrators, all highly qualified in the art of governing. The literary official became the pillar of the political system.

Populism

Populist political movements portray themselves as the enemies of the established political class and outsiders from the main political class that no longer represents the people and are morally corrupt. The main parties have included Italy's Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

 (Go Italy), led by Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

; France's National Front, led by Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...

; Austria's Freedom Party
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...

, led by Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...

; and Belgium's Flemish Bloc
Vlaams Blok
The Vlaams Blok was a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. From its creation in 1978, it was the most notable militant right wing of the Flemish movement. Vlaams...

.

United States

The term political class has recently been used as an epithet by conservatives, such as the editors of National Review. The theme is that the political elite is undemocratic and has an agenda of its own--especially the aggrandizement of its own power--that is hostile to the larger national interest, and which ought to be opposed by grassroots of populist movements.

There was a large movement for term limits in the United States
Term limits in the United States
Term limits in the United States apply to many offices at both the federal and state level, and date back to the American Revolution.-Pre-constitution:...

 in the 1990s to weaken the political class by limiting the number of terms an elected legislator could serve. Even though it succeeded in many states and cities it was rejected as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...

 when it tried to limit the number of terms that a federal officeholder could serve.

See also

  • Elite
    Elite
    Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...

  • Political corruption
    Political corruption
    Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

  • Power elite
    Power elite
    A power elite or The Grand Elite, in political and sociological theory, is a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, and access to decision-making of global consequence. The term was coined by C...

  • Ruling class
    Ruling class
    The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....

  • The Establishment
    The Establishment
    The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...


Further reading

  • Albertoni, Ettore, Mosca and the Theory of Elitism. (1987). ISBN 0-631-15254-7
  • Beyme, Klaus von. "The Concept of Political Class: A New Dimension of Research on Elites?" West European Politics, (1996) 19: 68-87.
  • Borchert, Jens, and Jurgen Zeiss, eds. The Political Class in Advanced Democracies (2003)
  • Codevilla, Angelo M, America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution<, (2010).
  • Cotta, Maurizio. "The Italian Political Class in the Twentieth Century: Continuities and Discontinuities", in M. Czudnowski, ed., Does Who Governs Matter? (1982) pp. 154-87.
  • Eliassen, Kjell A., and Pedersen, Mogens N. "Professionalization of Legislatures," Comparative Studies in Society and History, (1978). 20: 286-318.
  • Horowitz, David A. America's Political Class under Fire: The Twentieth Century's Great Culture War (2003)
  • Mills, C. Wright
    C. Wright Mills
    Charles Wright Mills was an American sociologist. Mills is best remembered for his 1959 book The Sociological Imagination in which he lays out a view of the proper relationship between biography and history, theory and method in sociological scholarship...

    . The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America (1956)
  • Mosca, Gaetano. The Ruling Class (1896; English translation 1939)
  • Oborne, Peter. The triumph of the political class (2007), on Britain; online review
  • Putnam, Robert D. The Comparative Study of Political Elites (1976).
  • Thies, Jochen, and Deborah Lucas Schneider. "Observations on the Political Class in Germany," Daedalus Volume: 123. Issue: 1. 1994. pp 263+.
  • Weber, Max. "Politics as a Vocation', in H. Gerth and C. W. Mills, eds., From Max Weber (1958); first published 1918
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