n this episode, CJ revisits DHP Episode 34, "The Iron Law of Oligarchy," from 2014, in preparation for an upcoming mini-series on oligarchy & CJ's argument that modern democracy is just oligarchy with extra steps.

Join CJ as he discusses:

A little bit about German sociologist Robert Michels, who first described this law

The Iron Law of Oligarchy as described by Michels in his early-20th century book Political Parties

The Iron Law of Oligarchy in other contexts

Some noteworthy exceptions to the Iron Law that various scholars have found, including the International Typographical Union, the New Left student movement of the 1960s, ancient Athens, and Wikipedia

Links

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