From that perspective, all citizens might be regarded as political agents (for example, as voters), although it is often more interesting to consider elite actors, whose decisions carry more weight.
Informed by current debates on neo-liberal urban strategies in North American and European cities, the paper explores how these urban strategies were articulated by elite actors, who attempted to appropriate the European Capital of Culture event to support their growth plans for the city, and the docklands in particular.
The conservative American philosopher James Burnham, a founding editor of the National Review, depicted Mosca, Pareto, and Michels as Machiavellians whose realistic analysis of elite actors and rejection of utopian egalitarianism represented the best hope of democracy as defined in terms of the law-governed liberty that emerges from interelite checks and balances.
The media storms brewed to condemn Abbott's tweet or Bouteldja's pun as "racist" are based on an implicit understanding; a true reckoning with racism would, at minimum, diminish the power and privilege that allows elite actors to play the victim.
It may be that the various elite actors on the Congolese stage - local and foreign - are making so much money from the rich mineral deposits that they don't want a functioning national army to restore order.
Portraying Nelson Mandela in a motion picture has been a badge of honor among some of Hollywood's elite actors in recent years.
Since his humble beginnings in Philadelphia as part of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Smith has evolved into one of Hollywood's most elite actors.
According to UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2011, textbook content and production in Pakistan is negatively influenced by political and elite actors (p. 5).
However, instead of fighting to build on systems designed to improve the quality of life for all Americans, our nation's democratic processes have been captured by elite actors hell bent on making the system serve their narrow interests at the expense of the majority.
Gaining access to elite actors can be tricky (Pettigrew, 1992).
The study also shows that the interests and preferences of a small group of elite actors influenced decision-making [ 2].
