parliament (MPs), but in fact the special conference called to set up the new
machinery voted for a system which gave MPs 30% of the electoral college
vote, the trade unions 40% and the constituency parties the remaining 30%.
The method was first used to elect a new leader, Neil Kinnock, in 1983, since
when there has been further argument that the party should move to a more
direct method of election. Electoral colleges, not necessarily under that name,
have been common; until 1962, for example, the French president was so
elected. As political cultures move further towards the idea that only mass
participation in decision-making is really acceptable, such devices for restrict-
ing popular influence on choice are likely to decline. TheConservative
Partylater moved to a form of election not dissimilar to an electoral college
because the full membership can only vote on the referred candidates of the
parliamentary party.
Electoral Systems (see Voting Systems)
E ́litism
E ́litism (or e ́litist theory) is a rather loose term used to describe a variety of
political theories. What all the theories have in common is the conviction that
every political system, whatever its officialideology, is in fact ruled by a
political e ́lite or e ́lites. The originators of modern e ́litist theory were two late
19th-century Italian social scientists,Paretoand Mosca. (Which of the two
devised the e ́litist theory was the subject of an argument between the two men
themselves that was continued by later commentators.) In showing that all
societies must be governed by e ́lites, Pareto and Mosca intended to destroy the
belief inMarxismthat there could one day be a classless society with complete
political equality; ironically, writers with a Marxist perspective subsequently
used much the same model to dismiss the democratic pretensions of Western
liberal societies. Whereas Pareto treated contemporary democracy as a com-
plete sham, Mosca changed his position over time, eventually accepting that
democracy was possible in the form of a system in which competing e ́lites
submitted to being chosen or rejected by electors. However, he never moved
far from his main position, summed up in his statement that a parliamentary
representative was not someone the people had elected, but someone whose
friends had arranged for him to be elected.
E ́litist theories were developed further in the early 20th century by several
thinkers, notablySchumpeterand one of Mosca’s disciples, Roberto Michels.
Setting out hisiron law of oligarchy, Michels tried to show that even the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the oldest socialist party in
Europe, was inherently undemocratic, and bound to betray its working-class
Electoral Systems