# Elite

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Group or class of persons enjoying superior status

For other uses, see [Elite (disambiguation)](/source/Elite_(disambiguation)).

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (July 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Political cartoon parodying [James G. Blaine](/source/James_G._Blaine) with his wealthy donors feasting at a table at [Delmonico's](/source/Delmonico's) while a poor family begs beneath. Illustrated by [Walt McDougall](/source/Walt_McDougall) and [Valerian Gribayedoff](/source/Valerian_Gribayedoff) and originally printed in *[New York World](/source/New_York_World)*, October 30, 1884.

In [political](/source/Political_theory) and [sociological](/source/Sociological) theory, the **elite** ([/ɛ.ˈliːt/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English) or [/ɪ.ˈliːt/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English); from [French](/source/French_language): *élite*, from [Latin](/source/Latin_language): *eligere*, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a [disproportionate amount of wealth](/source/Economic_inequality), [privilege](/source/Social_privilege), [political power](/source/Power_(social_and_political)), or skill in a group. Defined by the *[Cambridge Dictionary](/source/Cambridge_Advanced_Learner's_Dictionary)*, the "elite" are "the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society".[1]

American sociologist [C. Wright Mills](/source/C._Wright_Mills) states that members of the elite accept their fellows' position of importance in society.[2] "As a rule, 'they accept one another, understand one another, marry one another, tend to work, and to think, if not together at least alike'."[3][4] It is a well-regulated existence where education plays a critical role.

## American universities

From an early age, upper-class members attend prominent preparatory schools, which open doors to elite universities, known as the [Ivy League](/source/Ivy_League), which includes [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University), [Yale University](/source/Yale_University), [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) and [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University) (among others), and the universities' respective highly exclusive clubs, such as the [Harvard Club of Boston](/source/Harvard_Club_of_Boston). These memberships, in turn, pave the way to prominent social clubs in major cities and serve as venues for important business contacts.[3][5]

A 2025 study analyzed the educational backgrounds of 6,141 of the world's most influential people and found that a small number of universities educate the global elite, especially Harvard.[6] Ranked in terms of number of alumni who went on to elite positions, Harvard was followed by [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University), the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford), the [University of Pennsylvania](/source/University_of_Pennsylvania), [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), [Yale University](/source/Yale_University), the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology), the [University of Chicago](/source/University_of_Chicago), and the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley).[6] If all American elites are removed, Harvard again came out on top by a large margin, but was then followed by Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics), the [École nationale d'administration](/source/%C3%89cole_nationale_d'administration), the [University of Tokyo](/source/University_of_Tokyo), [Sciences Po](/source/Sciences_Po), and MIT.[6]

## Elitist privilege

According to Mills, men receive the education necessary for [elitist](/source/Elitism) privilege to obtain their background and contacts, allowing them to enter three branches of the power elite, which are:

- Political leadership: Mills contended that since the end of [World War II](/source/World_War_II), corporate leaders had become more prominent in the political process, with a decline in central decision-making for professional politicians.

- Military Circle: In Mills' time—the 1950s—a heightened concern about warfare existed, making top military leaders and such issues as defense funding and personnel recruitment very important. Most prominent corporate leaders and politicians were strong proponents of military spending.[4]

- Corporate elite: According to Mills, in the 1950s, when the military emphasis was pronounced, it was corporate leaders working with prominent military officers who dominated the development of policies. These two groups tended to be mutually supportive.[7][8]

According to Mills, the governing elite in the United States primarily draws its members from political leaders, including the president, and a handful of key cabinet members, as well as close advisers, major corporate owners and directors, and high-ranking military officers.[9] These groups overlap; elites tend to circulate from one sector to another, consolidating power in the process.[10]

Unlike the [ruling class](/source/Ruling_class), a social formation based on heritage and social ties, the power elite is characterized by the organizational structures through which it acquires wealth. According to Mills, the power elite rose from "the managerial reorganization of the propertied classes into the more or less unified stratum of the corporate rich".[11] In [G. William Domhoff](/source/G._William_Domhoff)'s sociology textbooks, [*Who Rules America?*](/source/Who_Rules_America%3F) editions, he further clarified the differences in the two terms:

"The upper class as a whole does not do the ruling. Instead, class rule is manifested through the activities of a wide variety of organizations and institutions [...] Leaders within the upper class join with high-level employees in the organizations they control to make up what will be called the power elite".[12]

The [Marxist](/source/Marxism) theoretician [Nikolai Bukharin](/source/Nikolai_Bukharin) anticipated the [elite theory](/source/Elite_theory) in his 1929 work, *Imperialism and World Economy*:

"present-day state power is nothing but an entrepreneurs' company of tremendous power, headed even by the same persons that occupy the leading positions in the banking and syndicate offices".[13]

## Power elite

The term *power elite* is used by Mills to describe a relatively small, loosely connected group of individuals who dominate American policymaking. This group includes bureaucratic, corporate, intellectual, military, [media](/source/Media_proprietor), and government elites who control the principal institutions in the [United States](/source/United_States) and whose opinions and actions influence policymakers' decisions.[14] The basis for membership of a power elite is institutional power, namely an influential position within a prominent private or public organization.[3] A study of the French corporate elite has shown that social class continues to hold sway in determining who joins this elite group, with those from the upper-middle class tending to dominate.[15]

Another study (published in 2002) of power elites in the United States during the administration of [President](/source/President_of_the_United_States) [George W. Bush](/source/George_W._Bush) (in office from 2001 to 2009) identified 7,314 institutional positions of power encompassing 5,778 individuals.[16] A later study of U.S. society noted demographic characteristics of this elite group as follows: [*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

### Age

Corporate leaders aged about 60; heads of [foundations](/source/Foundation_(nonprofit)), law, education, and civic organizations aged around 62; government employees aged about 56.

### Gender

Men contribute roughly 80% in the political realm, whereas women contribute roughly only 20% in the political realm. In the economic denomination, as of October 2017[\[update\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elite&action=edit), only 32 (6.4%) of the [Fortune 500](/source/Fortune_500) CEOs are women.[17]

### Ethnicity

In the U.S., [White Anglo-Saxons](/source/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestant) dominate in the power elite.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] While [Protestants](/source/Protestants) represent about 80% of the top business leaders,[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] about 54% of the members of Congress of any ethnicity are also Protestant.[18] As of October 2017[\[update\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elite&action=edit), only 4 (0.8%) of the Fortune 500 CEOs are [African American](/source/African_American).[17] In similarly low proportions, as of October 2017[\[update\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elite&action=edit), 10 (2%) of the Fortune 500 CEOs are [Latino](/source/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans), and 10 (2%) are Asian.[17]

### Education

Nearly all the leaders have a college education, with almost half graduating with advanced degrees. About 54% of the big-business leaders, and 42% of the government elite, graduated from just 12 prestigious [universities](/source/Universities) with large [endowments](/source/Endowment_fund).

### Social clubs

Most holders of top positions in the power elite possess exclusive membership to one or more [social clubs](/source/Social_club). About a third belong to a small number of especially prestigious clubs in major cities like [London](/source/London), [New York City](/source/New_York_City), [Chicago](/source/Chicago), [Boston](/source/Boston), and [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.)[19]

## Impacts on economy

In the 1970s, an organized set of [policies](/source/Trickle-down_economics) promoted reduced [taxes](/source/Tax), especially for the wealthy, and a steady erosion of the welfare safety net.[20] Starting with legislation in the 1980s, the wealthy banking community successfully lobbied for reduced regulation.[21] The wide range of financial and social capital accessible to the power elite gives their members heavy influence in economic and political decision making, allowing them to move toward attaining desired outcomes. Sociologist Christopher Doob gives a hypothetical alternative, stating that these elite individuals would consider themselves the overseers of the national economy. Also appreciating that it is not only a moral, but a practical necessity to focus beyond their group interests. Doing so would hopefully alleviate various destructive conditions affecting large numbers of less affluent citizens.[3]

## Global politics and hegemony

Mills determined that there is an "inner core" of the power elite involving individuals who are able to move from one seat of institutional power to another. They, therefore, have a wide range of knowledge and interests in many influential organizations, and are, as Mills describes, "professional go-betweens of economic, political, and military affairs".[22] Relentless expansion of [capitalism](/source/Capitalism) and the globalizing of economic and military power bind leaders of the power elite into complex relationships with [nation states](/source/Nation_state) that generate global-scale class divisions. Sociologist [Manuel Castells](/source/Manuel_Castells) writes in *[The Rise of the Network Society](/source/The_Rise_of_the_Network_Society)* that contemporary globalization does not mean that "everything in the global economy is global".[23]

So, a global economy becomes characterized by fundamental social inequalities with respect to the "level of integration, competitive potential and share of the benefits from economic growth".[24] Castells cites a kind of "double movement" where on one hand, "valuable segments of territories and people" become "linked in the global networks of value making and wealth appropriation", while, on the other, "everything and everyone" that is not valued by established networks gets "switched off [...] and ultimately discarded".[24] These evolutions have also led many social scientists to explore empirically the possible emergence of a new transnational and cohesive social class at the top of the social ladder: a global elite.[25] But, the wide-ranging effects of [global capitalism](/source/Global_capitalism) ultimately affect everyone on the planet, as economies around the world come to depend on the functioning of global financial markets, technologies, trade, and labor.

## See also

- [Society portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Society)

- [Alpha (ethology)](/source/Alpha_(ethology))

- [Boston Brahmin](/source/Boston_Brahmin)

- [Bourgeoisie](/source/Bourgeoisie)

- [Cabal](/source/Cabal)

- [Conflict theories](/source/Conflict_theories)

- [Economic history of Canada#Business elite](/source/Economic_history_of_Canada#Business_elite)

- [Elite overproduction](/source/Elite_overproduction)

- [Elite theory](/source/Elite_theory)

- [Elitism](/source/Elitism)

- [International Debutante Ball](/source/International_Debutante_Ball)

- [Invisible Class Empire](/source/Invisible_Class_Empire)

- [Jet set](/source/Jet_set)

- [Liberal elite](/source/Liberal_elite)

- [Plutocracy](/source/Plutocracy)

- [Political class](/source/Political_class)

- [The Establishment](/source/The_Establishment)

- [The powers that be](/source/The_powers_that_be)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["ELITE | definition of the cambridge dictionary"](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/elite). *Cambridge Dictionary*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230103173405/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/elite) from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Doob, Christopher (2013). *Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society*. Pearson Education Inc. p. 18. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-205-79241-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-205-79241-2).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Doob_2013_38_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Doob_2013_38_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Doob_2013_38_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Doob_2013_38_3-3) Doob, Christopher (2013). *Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society*. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. p. 38. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-205-79241-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-205-79241-2).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_4-1) Mills, Charles W. "9. The Military Ascendancy". *The Power Elite*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Mills, Charles W. (1956). [*The Power Elite*](https://archive.org/details/powerelite000mill). New York, Oxford University Press. pp. [63–67](https://archive.org/details/powerelite000mill/page/63).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Salas-Díaz_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Salas-Díaz_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Salas-Díaz_6-2) Salas-Díaz, Ricardo; Young, Kevin L. (January 2025). "Where Did the Global Elite Go to School? Hierarchy, Harvard, Home and Hegemony". *[Global Networks](/source/Global_Networks)*. **25** (1) e12509. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1111/glob.12509](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fglob.12509).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Doob, Christopher (2013). *Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society*. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. p. 39. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-205-79241-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-205-79241-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Mills, Charles W. (1956). [*The Power Elite*](https://archive.org/details/powerelite000mill). New York, Oxford University Press. pp. [274–276](https://archive.org/details/powerelite000mill/page/274).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Powell_9-0)** Powell, Jason L.; Chamberlain, John M. (2007). ["Power elite"](https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz4wU64f_JYC&pg=PA466). In Ritzer, George; Ryan, J. Michael (eds.). *The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology*. John Wiley & Sons. p. 466. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4051-8353-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4051-8353-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Powell, Jason L. (2007) "power elite" in George Ritzer (ed.) *The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology*, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, pp. 3602-3603

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** [Mills, Charles W](/source/C._Wright_Mills). *The Power Elite*, p 147.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [Domhoff, William G](/source/G._William_Domhoff), *Who Rules America Now?* (1997), p. 2.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** [Bukharin, Nikolai](/source/Nikolai_Bukharin). *Imperialism and World Economy* (1929)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** power elite. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved January 18, 2015, from Dictionary.com website: [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/power%20elite](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/power%20elite)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Maclean, Mairi; Harvey, Charles; Kling, Gerhard (2014-06-01). ["Pathways to Power: Class, Hyper-Agency and the French Corporate Elite"](https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17823/1/Maclean%20Harvey%20Kling_Pathways%20to%20power_AAM.pdf) (PDF). *Organization Studies*. **35** (6): 825–855. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1177/0170840613509919](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0170840613509919). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0170-8406](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0170-8406). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [145716192](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145716192).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Dye, Thomas (2002). [*Who's Running America? The Bush Restoration, 7th edition*](https://books.google.com/books?id=0-ntAAAAMAAJ). Prentice Hall. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-13-097462-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-13-097462-4).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Fortune_500_17-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Fortune_500_17-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Fortune_500_17-2) ["Fortune 500 list"](http://beta.fortune.com/fortune500/list). *Fortune*. Retrieved 14 November 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["Faith on the Hill"](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/01/04/faith-on-the-hill-2021/). 4 January 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Doob, Christopher (2012). *Social Inequality and Social Stratification in U.S. Society*. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education. p. 42.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** [Jenkins & Eckert 2000](#CITEREFJenkinsEckert2000)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** [Francis 2007](#CITEREFFrancis2007)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** [Mills, Charles W](/source/C._Wright_Mills). *The Power Elite*, p 288.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Castells, Manuel (1996). *The Rise of the Network Society*. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. p. 101. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-55786-617-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55786-617-2).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CastellsManuel_24-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CastellsManuel_24-1) Castells, Manuel (1996). *The Rise of the Network Society*. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. p. 108. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-55786-617-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55786-617-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** Cousin, Bruno; Chauvin, Sébastien (2021). ["Is there a global super-bourgeoisie?"](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.12883). *Sociology Compass*. **15** (6) e12883. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1111/soc4.12883](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fsoc4.12883). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1751-9020](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1751-9020). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [234861167](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:234861167).

## Further reading

- [World Elite Database](https://worldelitedatabase.org/)

- Ansell, Ben W.; Samuels, David J. (2015). *Inequality and Democratization: An Elite-Competition Approach*. New York: Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-521-16879-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-16879-3). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [900952620](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/900952620).

- Heinrich Best, Ronald Gebauer & Axel Salheiser (Eds.): [*Political and Functional Elites in Post-Socialist Transformation: Central and East Europe since 1989/90*](https://web.archive.org/web/20130603122524/http://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/current-issues/current-issues-2010-2012/372-elite-transformation//). [Historical Social Research](/source/Historical_Social_Research) 37 (2), Special Issue, 2012.

- Cousin, Bruno & Sébastien Chauvin (2021). ["Is there a global super-bourgeoisie?"](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.12883#:~:text=The%20super%2Dbourgeoisie%20would%20be,consciousness%20and%20capacity%20to%20act) *Sociology Compass* 15 (6): 1–15.

- Cousin, Bruno, [Shamus Khan](/source/Shamus_Khan) & [Ashley Mears](/source/Ashley_Mears) (2018). ["Theoretical and methodological pathways for research on elites"](https://academic.oup.com/ser/article-abstract/16/2/225/4978534) *[Socio-Economic Review](/source/Socio-Economic_Review)* 16 (2): 225–249.

- [Osnos, Evan](/source/Evan_Osnos), "Ruling-Class Rules: How to thrive in the power elite – while declaring it your enemy", *[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)*, 29 January 2024, pp. 18–23. "In the nineteen-twenties... American elites, some of whom feared a [Bolshevik revolution](/source/Bolshevik_revolution), consented to reform... Under [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt)... the U.S. raised taxes, took steps to protect [unions](/source/Labor_union), and established a [minimum wage](/source/Minimum_wage). The costs, [\[Peter\] Turchin](/source/Peter_Turchin) writes, 'were borne by the American [ruling class](/source/Ruling_class).'... Between the nineteen-thirties and the nineteen-seventies, a period that scholars call the [Great Compression](/source/Great_Compression), economic equality narrowed, except among Black Americans... But by the nineteen-eighties the Great Compression was over. As the rich grew richer than ever, they sought to turn their money into [political power](/source/Political_power); spending on politics soared." (p. 22.) "[N]o democracy can function well if people are unwilling to lose power – if a generation of leaders... becomes so entrenched that it ages into [gerontocracy](/source/Gerontocracy); if one of two major parties denies the arithmetic of elections; if a cohort of the ruling class loses status that it once enjoyed and sets out to salvage it." (p. 23.)

- [Jan Pakulski](/source/Jan_Pakulski), Heinrich Best, Verona Christmas-Best & Ursula Hoffmann-Lange (Eds.): [*Elite Foundations of Social Theory and Politics*](https://web.archive.org/web/20130603115511/http://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/current-issues/current-issues-2010-2012/371-elite-foundations/). [Historical Social Research](/source/Historical_Social_Research) 37 (1), Special Issue, 2012.

- Dogan, Mattei (2003). [*Elite configurations at the apex of power*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6Cu8nvJplMC). BRILL. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-90-04-12808-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-04-12808-8).

- Domhoff, G. William (1990). [*The power elite and the state: how policy is made in America*](https://books.google.com/books?id=A35GpAnLR5EC). Transaction Publishers. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-202-30373-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-202-30373-4).

- Hartmann, Michael (2007). [*The sociology of elites*](https://books.google.com/books?id=A802Pz-IZ7cC). Taylor & Francis. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-415-41197-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-41197-4).

- Jenkins, J. Craig; Eckert, Craig M. (2000). "The Right Turn in Economic Policy: Business Elites and the New Conservative Economics". *Sociological Forum*. **15** (2): 307–338. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1023/A:1007573625240](https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1007573625240). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [684818](https://www.jstor.org/stable/684818). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [141188855](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:141188855).

- Rothkopf, David (2009). [*Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making*](https://books.google.com/books?id=beHXwswSD9AC). Macmillan. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-374-53161-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-374-53161-4).

- Scott, John, ed. (1990). [*The Sociology of Elites: The study of elites*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoW3AAAAIAAJ). Edward Elgar. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-85278-390-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-85278-390-7).

- Francis, David (2007). ["Government Regulation Stages a Comeback"](https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0910/p14s01-wmgn.html). *Christian Scientist Monitor*: 14. Retrieved 5 December 2012.

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v t e Political philosophy Terms Authority Citizenship‎ Duty Elite Emancipation Freedom Government Hegemony Hierarchy Justice Law Legitimacy Liberty Monopoly Nation Obedience Peace People Pluralism Power Progress Propaganda Property Regime Revolution Rights Ruling class Society Sovereignty‎ State Utopia War Government Aristocracy Oligarchy Autocracy Bureaucracy Dictatorship Democracy Ochlocracy Gerontocracy Meritocracy Monarchy Tyranny Plutocracy Republic Technocracy Theocracy Ideologies Agrarianism Anarchism Capitalism Christian democracy Colonialism Communism Communitarianism Confucianism Conservatism Corporatism Distributism Environmentalism Fascism Feminism Feudalism Hindutva Imperialism Islamism Liberalism Libertarianism Localism Marxism Monarchism Multiculturalism Nationalism Nazism Populism Republicanism Social Darwinism Social democracy Socialism Third Way Concepts Balance of power Bellum omnium contra omnes Body politic Clash of civilizations Common good Consent of the governed Divine right of kings Family as a model for the state Monopoly on violence Natural law Negative and positive rights Night-watchman state Noble lie Noblesse oblige Open society Ordered liberty Original position Overton window Separation of powers Social contract State of nature Statolatry Supermajority Tyranny of the majority Philosophers Antiquity Aristotle Chanakya Cicero Confucius Han Fei Lactantius Mencius Mozi Plato political philosophy Polybius Shang Sun Tzu Thucydides Xenophon Middle Ages Al-Farabi Aquinas Averroes Bruni Dante Gelasius al-Ghazali Ibn Khaldun Marsilius Muhammad Nizam al-Mulk Ockham Plethon Wang Early modern period Boétie Bodin Bossuet Calvin Campanella Filmer Grotius Guicciardini Hobbes political philosophy James Leibniz Locke Luther Machiavelli Milton More Müntzer Pufendorf Spinoza Suárez 18th and 19th centuries Al-Afghani Bakunin Bastiat Beccaria Bentham Bolingbroke Bonald Burke Carlyle Comte Condorcet Constant Cortés Engels Fichte Fourier Franklin Godwin Haller Hegel Herder Hume Iqbal Jefferson Kant political philosophy Le Bon Le Play Madison Maistre Marx Mazzini Mill Montesquieu Nietzsche Owen Paine Proudhon Renan Rousseau Sade Saint-Simon Smith Spencer de Staël Stirner Taine Thoreau Tocqueville Tucker Voltaire 20th and 21st centuries Agamben Ambedkar Apo Arendt Aron Badiou Bauman Benoist Berlin Bernstein Burnham Chomsky Dmowski Du Bois Dugin Dworkin Evola Fanon Fisher Foucault Fromm Fukuyama Gandhi Gentile Gramsci Guénon Habermas Hayek Hoppe Huntington Kautsky Khomeini Kirk Kropotkin Laclau Lenin Luxemburg Mansfield Mao Marcuse Maurras Michels Mises Mosca Mouffe Negri Nozick Nursi Nussbaum Oakeshott Ortega Pareto Popper Qutb Rand Rawls Röpke Rothbard Russell Sartre Savarkar Schmitt Scruton Shariati Sorel Spann Spengler Strauss Sun Taylor Voegelin Walzer Weber Works Analects of Confucius (c. 475 BCE) Republic (c. 375 BCE) Politics (c. 335 BCE) On the Republic (51 BCE) Siyasatnama (11th century) Treatise on Law (c. 1274) Monarchy (1313) Muqaddimah (1337) The Prince (1532) Patriarcha (1642) Leviathan (1651) Two Treatises of Government (1689) The Spirit of Law (1748) The Social Contract (1762) Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) Rights of Man (1791) Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820) Democracy in America (1835–1840) The Communist Manifesto (1848) On Liberty (1859) The Revolt of the Masses (1929) The Road to Serfdom (1944) The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) A Theory of Justice (1971) The End of History and the Last Man (1992) The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996) Related Authoritarianism Collectivism and individualism Conflict theories Contractualism Critique of political economy Egalitarianism Elite theory Elitism History of political thought Institutional discrimination Jurisprudence Justification for the state Political ethics Political spectrum Left-wing politics Centrism Right-wing politics Religion in politics Christianity Islam Judaism Secular state Separation of church and state State atheism Political violence Separatism Social justice Statism Totalitarianism Category:Political philosophy

Authority control databases International GND National Japan Czech Republic 2 Other Historical Dictionary of Switzerland Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine

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