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A review by reddoscar
The Populist Delusion by Neema Parvini
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
You might expect a book destroying democracy to be more than 150 pages long or difficult to read, full of topwit words and waffle. Not so. Parvini has written a deft and explosive tome. Not only distilling the ideas of 8 political thinkers along with his own analysis and examples but doing so in clear and concise language. The clarity of the writing makes the Populist Delusion book eminently readable.
Parvini condenses the primary theories of 8 thinkers starting with the elite theorists, Mosca, Pareto, and Michels, followed by the realist, Schmitt, and futurist, de Jouvenel. The final 3 thinkers, Burnham, Francis, and Gottfried focus on the managerial class – those who rule for the elites. With their powers combined the populist delusion is shattered and the real mechanisms of power are laid bare. Namely, an organised minority will always rule over a disorganised majority. That the elite require a political formula, or political theology, in order to rule. An elite cannot rule indefinitely and will be replaced by a counter-elite, eventually. Within an organisation there will always be an oligarchy, in other words a minority will always command the majority. That he who decides is sovereign and politics can be reduced to the friend-enemy distinction. The high will always attempt to unite with the low in order to crush the middle and that the low will be rewarded for doing so. In our current era this is many of the bureaucrats and managers; the managerial elite. This managerial elite are drenched in credentials, i.e. MBAs, while being literally interchangeable with one another. The managers are responsible for propagating the Imperial Faith and dissent will be patholigised.
If at any point, dear reader, you felt a stirring of emotion or declared “bullshit!” on reading the above then I recommend you read the pocket-sized tome for an introduction into power analysis. Much of what I have surmised will be reflex for the NRx, DR, Sensible Centrist veteran and the book instead offers a succinct refresher on the basics. If you wish to read more then the book is absolutely packed with references to the works discussed as well as a mountain of secondary literature.
For the populist, the democracy-believer, this analysis of politics will feel like a cold shower. A horrid shock that leaves you feeling far worse than when you started. A shock that will take time to recover from but fret not, dear reader, there remains a slim vein of hope. The rulers make mistakes, they overplay their hand, they, currently, abhor hard power, dissent grows and with it a counter-elite. Do not expect the circulation of elites to be soon, swift, or smooth. But also, and this is important, don't fedpost and don't touch that which glows.
For 'the voter' who remains a believer in democracy in its current form then I implore you to really examine the Brexit vote, in Great Britain, or Trump, in the USA. Both were seen as great victories, both were spoken of as portents, winds of change, and yet both have been disappointing, both have failed. Brexit was neutered from the beginning with a series of Prime Minister's and governments aiming to mitigate damage rather than maximise potential, but why would they do this? The elites did not want Brexit, it did not conform to their aims. However, the elites cannot simply ignore the masses entirely for in doing so a counter-elite will organise to oust them. So, what do the elites do? Containment. Brexit in name only. Stop reporting on it or only report certain elements. Delegate to the bureaucratic machine, unelected, unaffected by massocracy, in order to achieve their goals. Offer up small victories to the dissenters, “red meat for the gammons” as it were, and go about their day. The biggest misstep with Brexit was the Leave victory crushing any embryonic counter-elite. This originated in a belief in democracy, that the rulers, as neutral levers of power, would simply listen to the people. This is not how power works and even if you, dear reader, think Parvini is wrong it should be self-evident democracy doesn't work either. Plus, if democracy worked it should easily resist the elite theorist critiques.
In all the chapters I found I wanted more, more analysis, more detail, more examples, but it would have been unnecessary. Besides Academic Agent's YouTube channel has all that, along with many other channels, and Substacks, of 'dissident right' thinkers. Not only that but all of the primary books referenced are available either on Amazon (or other booksellers) and most, for free, on Internet Archive (at least for now). The Populist Delusion serves as a primer, much how James Burnham's The Machiavellians did back in 1943, to understanding “the realities of power and how it functions, stripped of all ideological baggage.” (p.3)
The Populist Delusion is an excellent introduction into the realities of power for anyone finding themselves perplexed by current affairs (and historical ones). The true-believers of democracy may struggle but should remember it's important to be open-minded about these things.
If you prefer your elite theory lessons in fictional form read Dune.
Parvini condenses the primary theories of 8 thinkers starting with the elite theorists, Mosca, Pareto, and Michels, followed by the realist, Schmitt, and futurist, de Jouvenel. The final 3 thinkers, Burnham, Francis, and Gottfried focus on the managerial class – those who rule for the elites. With their powers combined the populist delusion is shattered and the real mechanisms of power are laid bare. Namely, an organised minority will always rule over a disorganised majority. That the elite require a political formula, or political theology, in order to rule. An elite cannot rule indefinitely and will be replaced by a counter-elite, eventually. Within an organisation there will always be an oligarchy, in other words a minority will always command the majority. That he who decides is sovereign and politics can be reduced to the friend-enemy distinction. The high will always attempt to unite with the low in order to crush the middle and that the low will be rewarded for doing so. In our current era this is many of the bureaucrats and managers; the managerial elite. This managerial elite are drenched in credentials, i.e. MBAs, while being literally interchangeable with one another. The managers are responsible for propagating the Imperial Faith and dissent will be patholigised.
If at any point, dear reader, you felt a stirring of emotion or declared “bullshit!” on reading the above then I recommend you read the pocket-sized tome for an introduction into power analysis. Much of what I have surmised will be reflex for the NRx, DR, Sensible Centrist veteran and the book instead offers a succinct refresher on the basics. If you wish to read more then the book is absolutely packed with references to the works discussed as well as a mountain of secondary literature.
For the populist, the democracy-believer, this analysis of politics will feel like a cold shower. A horrid shock that leaves you feeling far worse than when you started. A shock that will take time to recover from but fret not, dear reader, there remains a slim vein of hope. The rulers make mistakes, they overplay their hand, they, currently, abhor hard power, dissent grows and with it a counter-elite. Do not expect the circulation of elites to be soon, swift, or smooth. But also, and this is important, don't fedpost and don't touch that which glows.
For 'the voter' who remains a believer in democracy in its current form then I implore you to really examine the Brexit vote, in Great Britain, or Trump, in the USA. Both were seen as great victories, both were spoken of as portents, winds of change, and yet both have been disappointing, both have failed. Brexit was neutered from the beginning with a series of Prime Minister's and governments aiming to mitigate damage rather than maximise potential, but why would they do this? The elites did not want Brexit, it did not conform to their aims. However, the elites cannot simply ignore the masses entirely for in doing so a counter-elite will organise to oust them. So, what do the elites do? Containment. Brexit in name only. Stop reporting on it or only report certain elements. Delegate to the bureaucratic machine, unelected, unaffected by massocracy, in order to achieve their goals. Offer up small victories to the dissenters, “red meat for the gammons” as it were, and go about their day. The biggest misstep with Brexit was the Leave victory crushing any embryonic counter-elite. This originated in a belief in democracy, that the rulers, as neutral levers of power, would simply listen to the people. This is not how power works and even if you, dear reader, think Parvini is wrong it should be self-evident democracy doesn't work either. Plus, if democracy worked it should easily resist the elite theorist critiques.
In all the chapters I found I wanted more, more analysis, more detail, more examples, but it would have been unnecessary. Besides Academic Agent's YouTube channel has all that, along with many other channels, and Substacks, of 'dissident right' thinkers. Not only that but all of the primary books referenced are available either on Amazon (or other booksellers) and most, for free, on Internet Archive (at least for now). The Populist Delusion serves as a primer, much how James Burnham's The Machiavellians did back in 1943, to understanding “the realities of power and how it functions, stripped of all ideological baggage.” (p.3)
The Populist Delusion is an excellent introduction into the realities of power for anyone finding themselves perplexed by current affairs (and historical ones). The true-believers of democracy may struggle but should remember it's important to be open-minded about these things.
If you prefer your elite theory lessons in fictional form read Dune.