BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Princeton University Humanities Council - ECPv6.15.16//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Princeton University Humanities Council
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://humanities.princeton.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Princeton University Humanities Council
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260414T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260414T180000
DTSTAMP:20260602T192658
CREATED:20260409T183517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T201627Z
UID:74199-1776184200-1776189600@humanities.princeton.edu
SUMMARY:Book Discussion: Elites and Democracy
DESCRIPTION:A central paradox of democracies is that they are always ruled by elites. What can democracy mean in this context? Today\, it is often said that a populist revolt against elites is driving democratic politics throughout the West. But in Elites and Democracy\, Hugo Drochon argues that democracy is more accurately and usefully understood as a perpetual struggle among competing elites—between rising elites and ruling elites. Real political change comes from the interaction between social movements and elite political institutions such as parties. But\, although true democracy—the rule of the people—may never be achieved\, striving towards it can bring about worthwhile democratic results. \nAt the turn of the twentieth century\, Gaetano Mosca\, Vilfredo Pareto\, and Robert Michels put forward “elite” theories of democracy and gave us terms such as the “ruling class” and “elites” itself. Drawing on their work and tracing the history of democratic thought through figures such as Joseph Schumpeter\, Robert Dahl\, C. Wright Mills\, and Raymond Aron\, Elites and Democracy reveals that this fundamentally elitist basis of democracy—democracy understood as competition between elites—was there all along. The challenge is to think it anew. \nMoving away from procedural or principled conceptions of democracy\, Elites and Democracy develops a dynamic theory of democracy\, one grounded in movement. With current politics defined by a populist backlash against elites\, dynamic democracy offers the tools we urgently need to understand our contemporary predicament and to act upon it.
URL:https://humanities.princeton.edu/event/book-discussion-elites-and-democracy/
LOCATION:301 Wooten Hall
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR