Castoriadis versus Michels
A reflection on the iron law of oligarchy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4480939 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gerasimos Karavitis (New York University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 146 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 24-41 |
| Publication date | 2018-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Thesis Eleven (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0725513618776676 |
| OpenAlex | W2807806808 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
Throughout his life, Cornelius Castoriadis displayed an unwavering commitment to democracy. He militated for it and developed concepts to elucidate its significance for human freedom. Yet are the concepts Castoriadis developed enough to explain the depth of his aforementioned commitment? In this essay, I try to imagine how Castoriadis would have addressed Roberto Michels's 'iron law of oligarchy' thesis. I find that Castoriadis's concepts can help us question the normative value Michels assigned to oligarchy, but they fail to explain how he could have remained so committed to democracy when oligarchy seems ineluctable. Such a commitment, I argue, ultimately rests on an existential decision, the roots of which cannot be rationally explained
Democracy · Epistemology · Existentialism · Normative · Oligarchy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics
Oligarchy
Austerity
Participation and Democratic Theory
The crowd
Revista europea de Historia de las ideas políticas y de las instituciones públicas, 3
The crisis of parliamentary democracy
Robert Michels's Political Parties in Perspective
Norm and Critique in Castoriadis's Theory of Autonomy
Descriptive Representation, Money, and Political Inequality in the United States
The Politics of Autonomy and the Challenge of Deliberation
Reflections on France's "Nouveaux Philosophes" and the Crisis of Marxism
The meanings of autonomy
Max Weber and Robert Michels
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |