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

16

(in the
United States case, and partially in the Parliament in the case of the United
Kingdom), and in the pressure
group, as well as among the new and old upper
classes of town and city region.”9 Beside Mills’ studies of the modern elite, Mosca
and Pareto have acknowledged
that political power can also be influenced by
people outside the governing elite, such as military,
religious, and commercial
elites. Pareto himself went even further by saying that “the upper stratum
of
society, the elite, nominally contains certain groups of people, not always very
sharply defined,
that are called aristocracies, and 6the governing elite’ or ‘political
elite’ is itself composed
of distinct social groups.”10

Therefore, H. D. Laswell, in this studies of political elite, gave an up-to-
date definition to the
concept. He said that “the political elite comprises the power
holders of a body politic. The power
holders include the leadership and the social
formations from which leaders typically come, and to which
accountability is
maintained, during a given period.”11

The power
elite is made up of those people who are in a position to make
decisions with major consequences and in
command of the major hierarchies and
organizations of modern society. The elite is thus described in terms of
its
potential power rather than actual exercise of power. “The power attached to elite
positions
may not in fact be used by their occupants. They may, instead, allow
events to take their own course, let the
matters ‘drift’ and history be made ‘behind
men’s backs.’ At the core of Mills’
analysis – and of his political radicalism – is
the belief that within the dominant institutions of modern
U.S. society the means
for exercising power are more concentrated into a few hands than at any
previous
time in history.”12

The
history-making ability of the elites is enough to overturn the status
quo, call into question the existing
social relationships and establish a new
structure. The very centre of the elite has the capability to
determine the roles
both it and others will play in society. According to Mills’ observation, “the
major

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