Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pluralism
Pluralism of the
Center
Pluralism of the
Center
In Pluralists theory the same principles at
work at the local level, are at work at the
level of central government.
Our discussion of Pluralism at the center
will emphasize two liberal pluralist
solutions: Consociational Democracy and
Polyarchy.
Facets of a Pluralist
Model
Facets of a Pluralist
Model
Facets of a Pluralist
Model
Those with little power try to convert
interests to values (such as the desire for
rights) and those who have power, try to
reduce values to interests (the payment of
benefits).
The stability of a
Pluralism System is
based:
1. On maintaining the rules of consensus.
2. Converting values to interests by means of
organizational competition.
3. Gearing the society increasingly toward
equality, and
4. Anticipating the conversion of interests to
values by the relatively powerless.
Facets of a Pluralist
Model
The capacity to absorb demands which
begin as a value-loaded threats is one of
the most important aspects of pluralists
society. It assumes to the commitment of
consensus.
Some people can be
organized more
readily than others, and quite often those
who are likely to need the most benefit from
the society are also those least likely to
organize or mobilize.
Facets of a Pluralist
Model
One may have equality before the law and
feel discriminated against in a thousand
ways.
For research purposes, such as gut issues
must be treated as complex. Requiring
detailed study using proper techniques to
evaluate the significance of many variables.
Obtaining data, pertaining to (1) individual
and (2) territorial units
PRIMARY DATA
Individual- refers to sex, age, church
attendance,
voting records & so
forth
Territorial units- (global attributes) refers to
population size, national
income & other quantifiable matters.
DERIVED DATA
Individual- shows the impact of the global
attributes on the individual
Facets of a Pluralist
Model
There are difference between societies
which are plural in the sense described
earlier (primordial), as opposed to those
that are plural (as relates to diverse
interests and affiliations).
Solution in each case are somewhat
different, in the following sections we shall
discuss the two possibilities.
Consociational
Pluralism
Characteristics of
Consociational
Polities
Polyarchy
Variables to which
pluralist political
cultures are
comprised:
Democratization
Democratization
A key characteristics of democracy is the
continuing
responsiveness
of
the
government to the preferences of its
citizens, considered as political equals.
In which utilities of all participants in the
political marketplace are equal although
their wants and needs are different,
requiring government to select the most
satisfactory mediating response it can.
Economic
development &
Political System
Stageof Development
Political
System
II
II
III
IV
Competitive
13 %
33%
12%
57%
100%
SemiCompetitive
25
17
20
13
Authoritarian
63
59
68
30
(18)
(30)
(14)
(12)
(25)
YES
YES
YES
YES
Extreme inequality
erosion of polyarchy.
contributed
to
the
Maximizing Majority
Rule
Maximizing majority
rule
Polyarchy functions well to the degree that
it realizes what Dahl calls The Rule; that
is, the principle of majority rule which
prescribes that
In choosing among alternatives, the
alternative preferred by the greater number
is selected. That is give two or more
alternatives, x,y, etc. in order for x to be
governmental policy, it is necessary and
sufficient condition that the number who
prefer x to any alternative id greater than
the number who prefer any single
alternative to x
Pluralism and
Information
Availability
Information and
Coercion
C1
HIERARCHY
Information
I
1
Coercion
AMOUNT
Summary:
Polyarchy cannot likely exist when there is
extreme inequality, particularly
organizations w/ strong primordial
cleavages while Consociational feeds on
these differences & associate these
groups and maintains the distinctive
characteristics.
FIN
Thank You