The Populist Delusion

1. The Populist Delusion: Organized Minorities Always Rule

In all societies—from all societies that are very meagrely developed and have barely attained the dawnings of civilization, down to the most advanced and powerful societies—two classes of people appear—a class that rules and a class that is ruled.

Power is top-down. The fundamental reality of politics, according to elite theory, is that an organized minority always rules over a disorganized majority. This contradicts the democratic or populist belief that "the people" are or could ever be sovereign. Empirical studies even show public opinion having near-zero impact on law-making in places like the USA.

Organization triumphs. A hundred people acting in concert will inevitably overcome a thousand who are not in accord and can be dealt with individually. This principle holds true regardless of the size of the group, from small companies to entire nations. It applies not just to holding political office but also to logistical power (executing orders) and soft power (controlling discourse and opinion).

Bottom-up movements fail. Attempts to drive change from the bottom-up without elite organization, like the Yellow Vest movement or the January 6th events, amount to little more than an inchoate rabble. Movements that appear organic, such as the Civil Rights movement or the Russian Revolutions, were, in fact, tightly organized and often funded by elites or counter-elites.

2. The Iron Law: Oligarchy is Inherent in All Organizations

Who says organization, says oligarchy.

Leadership is necessary. In any organization of any size, leadership is essential for success and survival. However, the very nature of organization grants power and advantages to the leadership group, making them difficult for followers to control or hold accountable. This applies universally to political parties, unions, clubs, and even states.

Psychological and practical factors. This "iron law" is driven by both the psychology of the masses (need for leadership, hero-worship) and leaders (will to power, vanity), and practical necessities. Large organizations face mechanical issues (physically gathering everyone), technical issues (bureaucratic details, administration), and tactical issues (disorganized masses cannot act effectively without leaders).

Leaders consolidate power. Leaders gain advantages in knowledge, communication methods (controlling media), and political skills. They use these resources to maintain their positions, often becoming more concerned with staying in power than adhering to original principles. This leads to a "customary right" where past office holders expect future positions, regardless of performance.

3. Sovereignty Decides the Exception and Defines Enemies

sovereign is he who decides on the exception

Power revealed in crisis. The true nature of sovereignty is not found in normal legal norms but in the ability to decide on the exception—the state of emergency or crisis. The sovereign is not bound by the law but transcends it, revealing their power most purely when order and stability are threatened. This "decisionism" is the essence of state sovereignty.

Political theology is unavoidable. All significant concepts of the modern state are secularized theological concepts, requiring a "political theology" or legitimizing myth (e.g., Divine Right, Will of the People, Diversity is Our Strength). No state can be truly "secular" or neutral; it must adhere to an official faith or doctrine to maintain legitimacy and moral unity between rulers and ruled.

The political is friend vs. enemy. The concept of the state presupposes the concept of the political, which is defined by the distinction between friend and enemy. This is not personal animosity but a public distinction necessary for the political unit's existence. A state cannot be neutral; it must define its enemies, and this definition often shifts based on the prevailing political theology (e.g., Fascists, Communists, Terrorists, White Supremacists).

4. History is a Graveyard of Circulating Elites

History is a graveyard of aristocracies.

Elites are constantly replaced. Societies are characterized by the circulation of elites, where one ruling class is eventually replaced by another. This process is driven by shifts in the composition of the elite, particularly the balance between "foxes" (adept at manipulation, persuasion) and "lions" (adept at force, coercion).

Non-logical drivers. Pareto argued that historical change is primarily driven by underlying instinctual "sentiments" manifesting as "residues" (e.g., instinct for combinations, persistence of aggregates), not by rational ideas or ideologies, which are mere "derivations" or post-hoc rationalizations. Changes in the proportion of these residues within the elite determine the rate and nature of social change.

Exclusivity breeds counter-elites. While elites are constantly replenished by exceptional individuals from lower classes, ruling classes that become too exclusive or lose their willingness to use force risk being overthrown. A counter-elite, often composed of excluded talented individuals willing to use violence, will emerge from the non-elite to seize power when the incumbent elite falters.

5. Power Grows by Allying the High with the Low Against the Middle

Power is the great leveller that sets out to curtail or eliminate every social authority that mediates between the individual and the state.

The High-Low alliance. Central sovereign power ("the high") constantly seeks to increase its authority by undermining rival power centers ("the middle" or "subsidiaries"), such as nobility, corporations, or independent institutions. It achieves this by appealing to and patronizing the lowest strata of society ("the low" or "periphery"), promising liberation from the middle's oppression and guaranteeing security.

Undermining intermediaries. By allying with the disorganized masses, central power drains the influence and resources of intermediary groups that stand between the individual and the state. This process is a constant in history, observed from tribal cultures to modern states, where Power's "jealousy of any and every command" drives it to eliminate independent social authorities.

Permanent revolution. Power's ceaseless quest to eliminate rivals inadvertently creates new potential rivals, often elevating new groups (like bureaucrats or capitalists) who eventually form new power centers. This makes the state a "permanent revolution," where the cycle of destroying old feudalisms and creating new ones continues, always tending towards greater centralization and atomization of society.

6. The Managerial Elite Has Displaced Owners

The divorce of control, or power, from ownership has been due in large part to the growth of public corporations.

Managers control institutions. The true ruling class in modern society is the managerial class, which operates across the public-private divide and controls all large organizations. This class includes senior executives, civil servants, union officials, university administrators, and leaders in media and non-profits. They are united by common skills, interests, and goals, effectively forming a diffuse but powerful central authority.

Control over ownership. Due to the scale of modern corporations and the dispersion of stock ownership, control has been severed from legal ownership. Paid managers, not owners, make the key decisions and consolidate power. This logic extends beyond corporations to all large institutions, where organizational ability and control, rather than ownership, determine who rules.

Self-serving interests. Managerial elites prioritize their own interests—expanding control, increasing prestige, creating self-justifying jobs—often at the expense of the nominal owners, members, or the public they supposedly serve. Their power is difficult to dislodge due to their interchangeable nature and entrenchment within bureaucratic structures.

7. Ideology is a Cynical Weapon Used by Elites

Egalitarianism has been used principally as the political formula or ideological rationalization by which one, emerging elite has sought to displace from political, economic, and culture power another elite, and in not only rationalizing but also disguising the dominance of the new elite.

Ideology justifies power. While material conditions may create the need for new elites, ideology serves as a crucial tool for consolidating and maintaining their power. Managerial elites use mass public relations and cultural organizations (media, education, religion) to disseminate ideas and values that justify their rule and control the population.

Myths of equality. Concepts like "equality" are often employed as political weapons by emerging elites to delegitimize the old order and disguise their own dominance. The focus shifts from innate differences to environmental factors, implying that society itself needs to be managed and altered to achieve equality, thereby expanding managerial control.

Totalizing vision. The managerial regime requires a totalizing ideological vision that leaves no room for vestiges of the previous order. This involves creating sacred heroes and symbols (like Martin Luther King Jr.) while tearing down those of the old order, emptying them of significance. This constant ideological warfare reinforces the new regime's dominance.

8. The Therapeutic State Pathologizes Dissent

...the grafting on to administrative states of therapeutic and punitive agencies for forming social consciousness and chastising those with defective sensibility.

Transforming people for the system. The modern managerial regime seeks to transform individuals to fit its system of atomized corporate consumerism, rather than adapting the system to serve the people. This is driven by factors like multiculturalism and a progressive perversion of traditional values, leading to a focus on guilt and self-abasement.

Dissent as illness. A key tactic of this "therapeutic state" is to pathologize unwanted behaviors and views, treating them as forms of sickness requiring psychiatric or psychological intervention. This elevates behavioral scientists and therapists to an expert class whose judgments, often subjective, are presented as scientific truth to regulate and normalize behavior.

Coercion in disguise. Insidious social engineering programs, like "unconscious bias training," are cloaked in the language of benevolence, health, and human rights ("Equality, Diversity and Inclusion"). This disguises their coercive nature and serves as a political weapon to control society, punishing those with "defective sensibility" and enforcing ideological conformity.

9. Elite Uniformity and Loss of Legitimacy Create Vulnerabilities

The narrowness of the elite that results from this restriction insulates it from the influence of non-managerial social and political forces and reduces their ability to gain positions within the elite from which they can moderate, balance, or restrain its commands...

Lack of internal diversity. Unlike previous ruling classes, the managerial elite is characterized by its monolithic and uniform composition, emphasizing specific managerial and technical skills. While this provides a certain unity, it also insulates the elite from non-managerial social forces and restricts entry to those with the "correct" views or backgrounds.

Alienation of the non-elite. The exclusion of talented individuals with differing views, combined with the managerial regime's focus on self-serving interests and increasingly transparent manipulation, alienates significant portions of the population, including the middle and working classes. This frustration contributes to social decomposition and fragmentation.

Crisis of legitimacy. When the gap between the elite's self-descriptions (democratic, liberal, consensus-driven) and the reality of its imposed, often unpopular, social policies becomes too obvious, its political formula loses widespread belief. A ruling class cannot persist long without the masses buying into its legitimizing myths, creating a "paradigm crisis" for the regime.

10. Revolutions Replace Weak Power with Stronger Power

The Cromwells and Stalins are no fortuitous consequence, no accidental happening, of the revolutionary tempest. Rather they are its predestined goal, towards which the entire upheaval was moving inevitably; the cycle began with the downfall of an inadequate Power only to close with the consolidation of a more absolute Power.

Revolutions are top-down elite shifts. Revolutions are not spontaneous uprisings of the masses but occur when the incumbent ruling class loses its ability and resolve to maintain power, particularly its willingness to use force. A tightly organized counter-elite is then ready to seize the initiative and fill the vacuum created by the faltering old guard.

Failure of nerve. The moment of truth for a regime often comes when it must use repressive force to crush opposition but hesitates due to a failure of nerve or confidence. This weakness is exploited by rival aristocrats or counter-elites who are willing to employ coercion and violence, often leveraging existing popular discontent.

Stronger power emerges. Historically, revolutions result in a system with a stronger, more centralized power than the one overthrown. The upheaval liquidates a weak power, clearing the way for a more absolute power to consolidate control. The game of power remains the same; only the players and the specific form of dominance change.

Last updated: June 2, 2025