Iron Law of Oligarchy

Robert Michel's Iron Law of Oligarchy states that the concept of 'organisational Democracy' is in itself an oxymoron. It is a conflict theory that pits the leadership of a political party against the wider membership.

Detail
The first part of the law claims that even if power is granted to an entire membership of an organisation, a few main figures will always be responsible for making major decisions.

In its second part, Michel's law states that those who are elected as leaders will usually gradually become less influenced by views from the lower ranks of the party. It also argues that the reason that the leadership of a party are so influential is because of their smaller size, and therefore better organisation, compared to the general membership.

Thirdly, the Iron Law of Oligarchy argues that the leader of a party usually develops values that are at odds with that of their party. This could be seen, for example, with Tony Blair's transformation of the UK Labour party from a traditionally left wing institution to a centrist social democrat party.

Background
German sociologist Robert Michels formulated the Iron Law of Oligarchy in his 1911 book Political Parties, a comparative study of European socialist parties that drew extensively on his own experiences in the German Socialist Party (SPD), an ancestor of the PDS.