or North Korea, came to be described as ‘behind the iron curtain’. The
geographical meaning was dominant because it did describe a very real
situation where extensive border fortifications were erected, the most notor-
ious being the Berlin Wall, to keep the citizens of communist countries in,
rather than to keep aliens out. The idea was extended later by references to the
‘bamboo curtain’ to describe a similar self-imposed isolation by the People’s
Republic of China.
Iron Law of Oligarchy
Roberto Michels (1876–1936), one of the pioneers of political sociology, used
the phrase ‘iron law of oligarchy’ in his study of the internal politics of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD),Political Parties. It is part of his
general thesis that all organized groups, whether states, political parties, trade
unions or whatever, are inherently undemocratic. His argument is that
organization is necessary for any effective action in society, that organization
inevitably requires bureaucracy, and that bureaucracies equally inevitably
concentrate power in the hands of a few at the top of a hierarchy. The reasons
he gives for these assertions are multiple and not always compatible, but the
general theory is powerful. Briefly, only those at the top of a bureaucracy have
the information and control of internal communications and funds that
effective propaganda requires. As a result any organization, even the SPD,
the earliest effective socialist party in Europe and externally dedicated to
democracy, equality and freedom, will not exhibit these characteristics itself.
Much of Michels’ thesis is simply a development ofWeber’smore general
account of bureaucracy, but Michels also thinks that the inevitability of
oligarchyinside all parties means that democracy in the political system as a
whole is thereby made impossible to attain. A similar analysis, if slightly less
pessimistic, is found in Robert Mackenzie’sBritish Political Parties, which is still
the leading textbook on its subject. It is, however, questionable whether an
oligarchic leadership must necessarily stray from the preferred path of the mass
members, or whether internal democracy in political parties is necessary for
external democracy in the system. As long as voters can choose freely between
teams of united politicians, it may in fact be an advantage that the parties
should be internally oligarchic, if only to ensure the unity necessary before a
voter can make a rational choice.
Irredentism
Irredentism referred originally to an Italian political movement of the late 19th
century, but has come to be a general label for a common political manifesta-
tion. The word is derived from the phraseItalia irredenta(literally unredeemed
Iron Law of Oligarchy