... a political and methodological level. One commentator wrote that the theory amounted to nothing more than a "defence of the political interests and status of the middle class." whilst Mosca's analysis has been described as " a new dismal science aimed at the naive optimism of Eighteenth Century enlightenment". `What is also without doubt is the influence of Classical Elite Theory. I would argue that the theory of Democratic Elitism is nothing but a modified version of Classical Elite Theory with a more optimistic outlook and other commentators, whilst acknowledging the flaws of the theory believe that it still has valid points that need to be discussed. `Pareto and Mosca share a common political and cultural background, the Parliamentary liberalism of post-unified Italy. The problems of this system, the limited franchise, centralized/bureaucratized state, high taxation, corruption and the willingness of the system to use either patronage or force (as illustrated by ...

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