{"product_id":"the-populist-delusion-9781922602442","title":"The Populist Delusion","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump unleashed a wave of populism not seen in America since the Nixon era, which carried him into the presidency. Seen widely as a vindication of the people over elites, his failure to bring about any meaningful change was then seen as an aberration, a departure from a natural state where the people are sovereign and their representatives govern by their consent. This is the \u003cem\u003epopulist delusion\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book explodes that delusion. Beginning with the Italian elite school, Parvini shows the top-down and elite driven nature of politics by explicating one thinker per chapter: Mosca, Pareto, Michels, Schmitt, Jouvenel, Burnham, Francis, and Gottfried. The sobering picture that emerges is that the interests of the people have only ever been advanced by a tightly organized minority. Just as fire drives out fire, so an elite is only ever driven out by another elite.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Populist Delusion\u003c\/em\u003e is the remedy for a self-defeating folk politics that has done the people a great disservice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Imperium Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50586114621714,"sku":"9781922602442","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f51d51e1-00c6-4ac4-ad04-aded5b7aaada.jpg?v=1732041654","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-populist-delusion-9781922602442","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}