Modernizace železného zákona oligarchizace: příklad Německa a Rakouska
Modernization of the “Iron Law of Oligarchy”: The Cases of Germany and Austria

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the so called new trends in German and Austrian party politics during the last few decades, like the personalization of politics, the emergence of the cartel parties or the professionalization of electoral campaign. I suggest they all could be easily absorbed into the term “dealignment”. The main intention is to use Robert Michels’s theories to explain dealignment and call its “newness” to question because Michels’s “iron law of oligarchy” seems to be capable to explain the recent evolution of the modern political parties’ inner life. The cases of Germany and Austria are a logical choice to prove my point since Michels’s original research has taken place largely in the German political scene and a lot of scholars describe Germany and Austria as countries, where nowadays the “new trends” in the party politics are remarkably strong. I aim to verify the presumption that the dealignment is not a new trend at all and the political party’s inner organization rules are responsible. For that, we need to prove, that even nowadays Michels’s iron law of oligarchy still holds good.

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