Oligarchic Fatigue and Elite Domination

• In Event: Poster Session: Political Thought and Philosophy II

Abstract

Democracy is threatened by moneyed interests. It has become clear that neoliberal deregulation, increased material inequality, and a lack of accountability have disrupted democratic practices. Instead, a wealthy elite has coopted democratic decision making, leaving the people without formal political power to change the very political institutions which are supposed to protect and empower them. In light of this, I contend that people, as a response, may experience oligarchic fatigue when faced with the domination of an entrenched affluent minority. This paper explicates the concept of fatigue as a negative affect people experience when an oligarchy dominates democratic decision making. Oligarchic fatigue materializes in two analytically distinct manners: (1) people may experience fatigue when they are faced with obstacles to political participation due to oligarchic constraints; and (2) due to inefficacy of formal political structures, some may actively participate in politics – vote, call a representative, or be a union-member – and be fatigued since they are the most active but in vain. Oligarchic fatigue is a new analytical concept that captures the passive and exhausted response by the people. Fatigue is a feeling of chronic tiredness and lack of energy, where oligarchic fatigue is one caused by the underlying political inequality due to a material imbalance; specifically, it is a manifestation of the underlying condition of being unable to counter the interference of oligarchic domination. Section I outlines what oligarchy within electoral representative democracy entails. This section suggests that people have certain minimal expectations of a democratic system which are not met due to an increased material imbalance in political power. Section II develops the concept of oligarchic fatigue on two levels, juxtaposing it with democratic fatigue. Section III discusses the two analytically distinct manifestations of oligarchic fatigue, diagnosing the ways in which fatigue arises when oligarchic domination is present. The aim of the paper is to show that when political institutions become tortuous, unresponsive, and unaccountable, it causes widespread fatigue among the people.

Author

• Pim Trommelen