Mosca, Gaetano (1858–1941)

Gaetano Mosca, an Italian political theorist, jurist, and constitutionalist, together with Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) and Roberto Michels (1876–1936), were cofounders of the Italian School of Elitists. Michels was a sociologist of German origin but took Italian citizenship in 1923. These three thinkers' contribution to the development of political analysis was important for theoretical, historical, juridical, and social elements. Paralleling James Burnham's (1905–1987) interpretation in The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom (1943), the Elitists' approach emphasized a realistic view of politics. In addition, their theoretical approach opposed any utopianism that involved a totalitarian conception of political thought.

Mosca, born in Palermo, became editor of the Italian Chamber of Deputies proceedings in Rome in 1888. Ten years later, he became professor of constitutional law at the University of Torino, and in 1923, professor at the University of Rome. He also taught political science and published the important Storia delle dottrine politiche[Page 1046](1936, History of Political Doctrines). A member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1909 to 1919, he was elected to the Senate in 1919. A liberal-conservative, he opposed fascism and died in Rome in 1941.

Mosca developed the theory of elitism based on the fundamental concept of political class, particularly in Sulla teorica dei governi e sul governo parlamentare(1884, Theory of Government and the Parliamentary System). Pareto, in Systèmes Socialistes (1902, Socialist Systems), put forward and developed the term elite, written in the singular but with a plural meaning referring to a political class. Michels contributed the concept of the “organic and iron law of oligarchies.” His leading work,Zur Sociologie des Parteiwesens in der Modern Demokratie (1911, Sociology of Parties in Modern Democracies) completed the foundation for the elitist school.

Relying on his reading of history, Mosca stated that a clear distinction exists between the rulers or political class, an organized minority, and the ruled, the disorganized majority of citizens. Mosca's work had three distinct periods: First, the “open system” period (1879–1896) saw publication of Elementi di Scienza Politica (1896, The Ruling Class). Second, the “scientific system” period (1896–1922) involved works on constitutional law and the mafia. Third, the “codified doctrine” period (1923–1941) stretched from the second edition of the Elementi (1923), in which he definitely included the political class into his more general ruling class and wrote his history of political doctrine.

Mosca's other important theoretical conceptions involved the legitimation of power (the political formula) and the guaranty of balance between the political class and the ruled, protected by the “juridical defense,” the law and legal system.