About the author
American political theorist and writer (1905–1987) who moved from Trotskyism to the founding of the post-war American conservative movement. The Machiavellians (1943) popularised the Italian elite theorists — Mosca, Pareto, Michels — arguing that in every society, democratic or not, a minority elite actually rules, and that liberty depends not on popular sovereignty but on a balance among competing elites. A bracing realist challenge to democratic idealism.
Synopsis
A study of thinkers who argue that political life is shaped by elites, power, and ruling minorities.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workBurnham emphasizes that elites and organized minorities often dominate political life.
This challenges naive democratic assumptions by asking who actually rules.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with democratic theory, Rawls, or participatory politics.
Reading note
Useful but should be balanced with democratic and egalitarian theories.
Best paired with
The Federalist Papers.