Democracia e organização nos partidos políticos: Revisitando os microfundamentos de Michels

Abstract

My goal here is to return to the premises of Robert Michels' thesis on the organizational dynamics of political parties, marked by two supposedly antagonistic tendencies: the propensity toward the concentration of powers in the hands of an oligarchy, on the one hand, and desires for participation on the part of other party members, on the other. I also look at how scholars of the political partyphenomenon tied to contemporary organizational perspectives evaluate Michels' concepts and the prognosis for democracy that emerges from his studies.