What is left of democracy if there are very powerful, very remote, increasingly decisive oligarchies at work? "Today we live in a time when democracy – as a principle, as an idea, as a legitimizing force for power –is out of the question. Therefore, if oligarchy is established in our regimes, it must do so in democratic forms; it must somehow disguise itself; it cannot openly present itself as a usurpation of power. Thus, the question arises of its identification behind appearances and the need to bring its substance into focus.”

This book wants to provoke doubts and above all wants to make the reader think. The central problems of strictly contemporary political philosophy are all here: the oligarchic torsion of democracy, political nihilism, oligarchies and elites, technocracy, populism; and topics such as money and power, financialization of the economy, state failure, precarious work, the inequality between prosperous and suffering countries within the European Union and others. All these themes are treated without dogmatism and without sweeteners in a dialogue between an eminent jurist and constitutionalist, and one of the leading historian specialized in Roman and Ancient Greek cultures.