Mainstream political science is garbage. As taught at universities and public schools, it is nonsense parading around as ‘science’. It can be summed up with three main points: 1) democracy is universally preferable, 2) nationalists are evil, and 3) communists are well intentioned. Combined with wokeism, it is impossible for me to view mainstream political science with anything but pure contempt.

The Populist Delusion, on the other hand, is completely different. This book adds to the Machiavellian tradition of observing politics ‘as it is’ instead of ‘how it should be’. It is only 147 pages and is easy to read, especially considering the subject matter. Neema Parvini expertly summarizes several major political thinkers in a simple to digest format.

Content

The book is a nonfiction overview of political power without ideological baggage. It focuses heavily on elite theory and smashes the delusion of democracy (aka populism). Each chapter summarizes a Machiavellian thinker, with excerpts from their most notable books. Parvini does a phenomenal job of highlighting where each thinker added to the tradition and extensively references their source material.

The Populist Delusion addresses four major myths or what he calls the Four Myths of Liberalism. Quoting directly from the book, they are:

1. Myth of the stateless society: that state and society were or could ever be separate.

2. Myth of the neutral state: that state and politics were or could ever be separate.

3. Myth of the free market: that state and economy were or could ever be separate.

4. Myth of the separation of powers: that competing power centres_[sic] can realistically endure without converging.

Neema Parvini, The Populist Delusion, p. 4

Each chapter uses a different author and his writings to highlight these myths. It focuses on liberalism and the modern West. However, the analysis could apply to any time or place, as most of these thinkers relied heavily on historical examples or lived quite some time ago. With a chapter per author, it covers:

• Chapter 2 – Mosca: examples of elites, aka rulers, vs. the ruled
• Chapter 3 – Pareto: how elite self-interest drives politics
• Chapter 4 – Michels: organization of elites
• Chapter 5 – Schmitt: sovereignty and the true nature of the State
• Chapter 6 – Jouvenel: class theory and power
• Chapter 7 – Burnham: the modern managerial state
• Chapter 8 – Francis: managerial mass control
• Chapter 9 – Gottfried: displacement of private association

Review

I love this book. It is an updated take on Burnham’s book The Machiavellians. The main difference between these books is that Parvini is much easier to read than Burnham, and The Populist Delusion is significantly shorter. Although shorter, the book covers more topics, and its references are more relevant to our time.

I highly recommend reading this book if you want a better understand of the world around you. It is an absolute must read for anybody that seriously wants to be involved in politics or political theory. And even though I’ve read similar books, I benefited from Parvini’s masterful understanding of elite theory.

Recommend Reading

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You might also enjoy some of my other book reviews.

The Populist Delusion

The Defenders of Liberty

Shakespeare and New Historicist Theory

Concordia

Concordia, There Must be a Better Way

Three of the four myths of this book are also addressed in Concordia, There Must be a Better Way. It is a Machiavellian novel that helps visualize some of the issues and headwinds against building a truly free society. I wrote Concordia to illustrate how liberalism and the leftism are the real enemies of freedom.

The novel is a provocative adventure that harshly criticizes democracy and the failure of modern political elites. If you enjoy Neema’s book, then you’ll surely like Concordia too.