Gaetano Mosca

Mosca's The Ruling Class (1896) claimed that every society, whatever its constitution, is governed by an organised minority, because a small group that can coordinate will always beat an unorganised majority. Democracy changes how that minority is recruited and challenged, not whether it exists. The idea, shared with Vilfredo Pareto, founded elite theory; Mosca himself ended up defending parliamentary government against Mussolini.