Historians usually explain the astonishing persistence of noble elites in the nineteenth century by pointing to the fact that they were able to retain their economic base (especially in terms of property, i.e. land), and thus their socio-economic position, which enabled them to continue to act as social and political leaders. The essays in this issue, however, stress other factors. By analysing social elites with (quasi-)aristocratic character in different European states, but also in Latin America and the American South, they reveal the significant way in which (collective) political activities made it possible for nobles to maintain their elite social status. They emphasise that, à la longue, the shoring up and defence of “noble ways” was conditional on the skilful appropriation of “democratic means”. The way in which different noble elites used new democratic forms of politics (e.g. parliamentary debates, public campaigns, political associations, a growing press, etc.) to defend their political leadership had a lasting effect on the shape of their respective national public spheres.