This volume from The M.I.T. Studies in Comparative Politics Series is especially recommended to those interested in comparative politics, government, or law. World Revolutionary Elites presents studies in depth of four classic political uprisings of our time and of the elites who led them: the Politburo in Russia; the Fascists in Italy; the Nazis in Germany; the Kuomintang and Communists in China. In each study, the authors examine the background and character of the revolutionary elites; the conditions in each country that spawned the rebellion; and the ideological means by which these elites achieved and held power.
In recent years the study of revolutionary elites has come to occupy a prominent position on the research agenda of political scientists, historians, and other scholars in the social and behavioral fields. “... our type of Anglo-Saxon parliamentary democracy has not been able to provide the model for successful political organization” in many parts of the world. It is a matter of scientific interest to learn why this is so; it is a matter of policy concern to find ways of altering this situation..For these reasons, World Revolutionary Elites is a valuable work.
This study begins with a definition of political elites in terms of social and decision processes. The next chapter contains a discussion that also offers the framework for the specific investigations of the elites in Russia, Italy, Germany, and China that follow. The work concludes with an analysis of these coercive ideologists.
Long out of print and difficult to obtain in libraries, three of the four studies were originally done for the Hoover Institute at Stanford.
