Quote Of The Day; Elite Theory And Libertarianism

Mosca on universal peace: "Only of all the civilized world were to belong to a single social type, to a single religion, and if there were to an end to disagreements as to the ways in which social betterment can be attained. Even granting that such a world could be realized, it does not seem to us a desirable sort of world."

Gaetano Mosca (1939). From Robert D. Kaplan, The Coming Anarchy (2002).

Mosca formed along with Vilfredo Pareto and Robert Miches formed a trio who pioneered some thing called the Elite Theory. 

Basically a theory that studied the political behaviour of elites and more soberly, that an oligarchy is a fact of life.

In this quote one can see echoes of the 'globalism' in the post-war era that has reached near cultist status.

All these 'populist' and 'nationalist' governments or sentiments rising are a direct rebellion to this perception. It takes an extreme approach to undo what has become an extreme position in of itself.

For example, people began to perceive or even recognize they were slowly losing their sovereignty to international organizations. In Europe, Brussels is increasingly being scrutinized. The EU court recently ordered Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to take in migrants. Rather than enhance the EU's legitimacy this will further increase suspicion and cause friction.

Patience has also run out wit the United Nations. It has become the singular symbol of globalism.

These are forms of 'oligarchical' structures that have become sufficiently powerful so as to threaten individual sovereignty and nations as a whole.

More starkly, the 'state' will always pursue actions that will be seen as 'criminal' at the social level. Still more soberly, people who enter politics quickly eschew or forget the 'civl servant' part and instead serve self-interest in conjunction with it. Where the two conflict, the latter prevails.

Where countries are increasingly questioning their role within the UN, Canada has doubled down its commitment to it.

Here's a nice sum up of Elite Theory as libertarians interpret it.

Some selective passages to entice:

"....The intellectual tradition often called the Italian or Classical School of Elitism formulated a sociological challenge to the widespread idea that classical liberalism ushered in a kind of classless, meritocratic society, countering with the claim that class stratification was alive and well, and that an elite ruling class at the topmost portion of a tapering social pyramid would always wield power. The thinkers most often associated with this school are Gaetano Mosca, Robert Michels, and Vilfredo Pareto..."

"....A libertarian society would arguably be one without social class, reposed on the principles of equality before the law, individual rights, and free, open access to a competitive marketplace. These principles enacted, we might argue that any remaining social or economic inequalities would be the results not of social class as we ordinarily conceive it, but of either freely made choices or natural inequalities of ability, aptitude, and intellect...."

"....He anticipated public choice theory in his contention that despite the perceived advance of liberal ideas and the admitted benefits of free trade, the political process would ultimately still be controlled and manipulated by a small group of elites beholden to special interests. Avoiding the more simplistic, binary conceptions of class exploitation found in, for example, Karl Marx’s analysis, Pareto offers a messier vision of power and economic spoliation (his favored term) that more clearly understands the disarranged nature of political and economic relationships...."

"....In contrast to the disaggregated masses, the relative sophistication and organization of elites enables them to act concertedly, to mobilize and effect legal and political changes favorable to their ends.³ Poorly informed and largely uninterested, the general population is vulnerable to these machinations of political and economic insiders...."

"...The importance of so cynical a theory to a philosophy of liberty may not be immediately apparent, especially since the classical elitists saw permanent, coercive class rule as unavoidable and offered few normative judgments about such rule. Yet a key feature of libertarian theory is the claim that the use of government power is actually deeply impractical, that apart from the ethical problems with political authority, it tends not to operate as its devotees think...."

"....The work of the classical elitists sheds light on this claim, on the real world functioning of politics. Similarly, public choice theory teaches that the normal assumptions about the self-interested behavior of individuals are not suspended merely because an individual works for a government body. If people are self-seeking, propelled by their own private concerns, then they remain so even in agencies that are supposed to be dedicated to the protection of the public interest..."

"....Provided that classical elite theory is wrong, at least about oligarchical rule’s ineradicable place in human social organization, libertarianism offers compelling answers to the problems it presents. Libertarians argue that we can limit the power and influence of coordinated elite interests simply by restricting the functions of the state, which possesses a monopoly on the use of force within a given area..."

"....The classical elitists also tended to premise their social and political arguments on specific psychological postulations. For example, Pareto believed that human nature is naturally inclined to concoct elaborate rationalizations of illogical behaviors driven by sentiment and emotion and that, more often than not, this occurs quite unconsciously.⁴ Likewise, spoliators will find ways to excuse themselves for violating uncontroversial moral precepts such as the basic interdiction against theft. Mosca writes similarly, “Human societies are organized around collective illusions...” 

"....Unlike the elitist theorists, libertarians argue that society need not be governed by the arbitrary dictates of a ruling class, rejecting the idea that, in Michels’ words, oligarchy is “the outcome of organic necessity.” Still, their insights about the interconnection between politics and economics and the internal workings of power are important to the project of refining the libertarian response to the constant calls for government and politics to answer social problems...."