{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Political Science","slug":"new-books-in-political-science-408770","podcast_index_feed_id":408770,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT7047417664","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/79c533fc-f4de-11e8-9aba-c776eb4c2a32/image/af9ef2afee05125bb265ca99804e6c8a.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":1000,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770"},"episode":{"title":"Hugo Drochon, \"Elites and Democracy\" (Princeton UP, 2026)","slug":"hugo-drochon-elites-and-democracy-princeton-up-2026","published_at":"2026-05-20T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/hugo-drochon-elites-and-democracy-princeton-up-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3539673682.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK3539673682.mp3","summary":"A central paradox of democracies is that they are always ruled by elites. What can democracy mean in this context? Today, it is often said that a populist revolt against elites is driving democratic politics throughout the West. But in Elites and Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2026), Hugo Drochon argues that democracy is more accurately and usefully understood as a perpetual struggle among competing elites—between rising elites and ruling elites. Real political change comes from the interaction between social movements and elite political institutions such as parties. But, although true democracy—the rule of the people—may never be achieved, striving towards it can bring about worthwhile democratic results. At the turn of the twentieth century, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, and Robert Michels put forward “elite” theories of democracy and gave us terms such as the “ruling class” and “elites” itself. Drawing on their work and tracing the history of democratic thought through figures such as Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl, C. Wright Mills, and Raymond Aron, Elites and Democracy reveals that this fundamentally elitist basis of democracy—democracy understood as competition between elites—was there all along. The challenge is to think it anew. Moving away from procedural or principled conceptions of democracy, Elites and Democracy develops a dynamic theory of democracy, one grounded in movement. With current politics defined by a populist backlash against elites, dynamic democracy offers the tools we urgently need to understand our contemporary predicament and to act upon it. Hugo Drochon is an Associate Professor in Political Theory at the University of Nottingham. He is a historian of modern political thought, with interests in Nietzsche's politics. Morteza Hajiz…","meta_description":"A central paradox of democracies is that they are always ruled by elites. What can democracy mean in this context? Today, it is often said that a populist…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3852,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-political-science-408770/episodes/hugo-drochon-elites-and-democracy-princeton-up-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/hugo-drochon-elites-and-democracy-princeton-up-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}