The Configuration of Political Society: Elite Pluralism and the "Tacit Pact of Domination"

The "elite theory" that flourished in Italy at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries gave birth to a kind of political analysis that was based on the premise of a vertical distinction between ruling minorities ("elites") and a ruled majority. Political elites, as well as the foundations of their power, their "tacit pact of domination" with "the ruled", and the problem of its concrete (un)feasibility, were some of the most central topics delved into by Italian elite theorists. In the course of the 20th century and up to the present day, however, the focus of the elite research has shifted: at the centre is the extreme social and organisational complexity of contemporary societies, which has brought to light an increasing pluralisation of elites, blurring the boundaries of the relationship between rulers and ruled. Nevertheless, the fundamental political structure described by the elite theorists, and set aside by part of the contemporary literature, seems to persist, even if reformulated within vigorous, Paretian "transformations of democracy". The aim of this contribution is to reaffirm the relevance of the traditional relations of political domination, identifying in the blurring of their boundaries one of the central aspects of the transition of democracy and its political-institutional configuration.