The British Imperial Establishment, Post Imperial Era, and the ‘Churchillian’ World View, 1945-2016. (Adjustments & Challenges in Contemporary British Diplomatic Strategy)

15

membership. He was in fact in a position to witness this in every Greek state;
whether aristocratic or
democratic, there was always a limited number who had a
preponderant influence. From Polybius’ time to
Montesquieu’s time many writers
attempted to perfect Aristotle’s classification by introducing into
it the concept of
mixed governments. “Later on the modern democratic theory, which had its
source
in Rousseau, took its stand upon the concept that the majority of the
citizens in any state can participate,
and in fact ought to participate, in its political
life, and the doctrine of popular sovereignity still holds
sway over many minds in
spite of the fact that modern scholarship is making it increasingly clear
that
democratic, monarchial and aristocratic principles function side by side in every
political
organism.”8 The reason for this is that it is very hard to imagine that
there
is any society in which majorities are not ruled by the minorities. This is a natural
fact, for
the dominion of an organized minority, obeying a single impulse, over
the unorganized majority is inevitable.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to point out
that in modern society a single individual would not be able to
command a group
without finding within the group a minority to support him. The power of any
minority is
irresistible as against each single individual in the majority who stands
alone before the totality of the
organized minority. At the same time, the minority
is organized for the very reason that it is a minority. A
hundred men acting
uniformly in concert, with a common understanding, will triumph over a thousand
men
who are not in accord and can therefore be dealt with one by one.

It is,
however, important to note that as a result of a growing number of
large corporations, the establishment of
trade unions and the development of
political parties in modern society, power could to some degree be an
attribution
of institutions i.e. in the case of the political and the non-political elite, “the
power
elite are not solitary rulers. Advisers and consultants, spokesmen and opinion-
makers are the
captains of their higher thought and decision. Immediately below
them are the professional politicians of the
middle levels of power in the Congress

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