"Mosca, founder of the "Italian elitist" school, arguably the Darwin of his field, today known only even to specialists as a precursor of fascism, saw that within every governed society, all human beings can be divided into three clear sets. One is the officials, people āin the loopā who have the power to control or affect government decisions. Anyone who isnāt an official is a subject. The set of all officials is the regime. The set of all nonofficials is the public. Subjects are divided into two sets by a simple accounting: clients, who are economically dependent on the regime; commoners, on whom the regime is economically dependent. Clients naturally admire the regime; commoners naturally resent it. Individual human opinion is never deterministic. But these three human perspectivesāregime, commons, and clienteleānourish three kinds of political cultures, classes, or traditions. And while there may be many distinct common and client cultures, there is almost never more than one official culture: the people who govern, plus the people who think like them. Every objective political theory is a theory of this official class. Sovereignty, the absolute power of all officials over all subjects, is conserved. All government is unconditional. All āfreedomsā are conditional privileges granted by the regime ā what are ājudgesā but officials?"
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Politicians from ItalyPhilosophers from ItalyJournalists from ItalySociologists from ItalyJurists from Italy
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Gaetano Mosca
1858 ā 1941
Gaetano Mosca (1858-1941) was an Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant.
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