Premises of

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.

Rights & Equality in

a Pluralist System

Rights & Equality

T.H. Marshall described the rise of the
modern social welfare state as the result of
the organization of different sectors of
society in defense of their rights.
The effects of status differentiation results
in the higher grades acting more
responsible.

Rights & Equality

Equality is a condition of absolute fairness
or justice; an elusive condition.
Pluralism starts with a predisposition toward
the principle of organizational equality as
distinct from individual equality.
Equity is more likely to be realized, as
political leaders become more responsible
to their followers.

Rights & Equality

Each organization competes in order to
promote its own interest but that means
pluralism at the top, and not at the base of
the society.
When people feel more equal to each other,
they are less likely to accept absolute or
bureaucratic rule.
True equality is the final form of equity. But
true equality is an elusive condition w/c can
never really exist because of natural
differences among people.

Facets of a Pluralist
Model

Facets of a Pluralist
Model

A network of organizational competition,

influence, accountability, and information in
which groups can organize replaces the
notion of individual competition.
The emphasis on transactions and
exchanges of influence, information, and
accountability has the further effect of
converting passionately held political beliefs
and values into interest.

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

 It is basically, the associating of groups in a

way that distinctive characteristics of each
of the constituents without inhibiting the
pursuit of collective aims.
Some of these combined with class
differences so that some groups were
economically far better of, more educated
than others.

 Framework of shared interests within which

groups will be willing to interrelate,
compromise,
and
accommodate
one
another.
Common agreement is necessary before
action is possible.

Characteristics of
Consociational
Polities

 Pyramid Authority based on power that is dispersed

and shared among the constituent units and central
agency.
Multiple Loyalties the individual may belong to
several units which all fall along a single line of
cleavage (religion cutting across language, race
across religion, and so forth)
Necessity for compromise built into such a system
because its voluntary character.

 Ideologies can be inclusive rather than

exclusive, and they may symbolize the
purposes of the consociational
Competition between different groups for
support outside their own interests is
necessary in order to form coalitions and
keep leaders accountable.

 One theorist, Val R. Lorwin has used the

term Segmental Pluralism to suggests
powerful and distinctive units which need to
be composed into a single political system.
Lijphart suggests that a third type of
consociational system exists which consists
of fragmented but stable democracies.

 The leaders of the rival sub-cultures may

engage in competitive behavior and thus
further aggravate mutual tensions and
political instability, but they may also make
deliberate
effort
to
counteract
the
immobilizing and unstabilizing effects of
cultural fragmentation.

 The key to consociational accommodation is

elite bargaining.
The key to elite bargaining is a responsible
leadership highly accountable to its
community.
But the existence of various communities
must not be threatened by consociation.
Identities must be preserved.

 This places the emphasis on the regulation

of conflict or ensuring that groups deeply
concern with the preservation of their own
identities will not resort to violence.
Consociational pluralism emphasizes the
way elites bargain and compromise spurred
on by nonseparatist cleavages.

Polyarchy

 Which simply means rule by the many

The most important study dealing with the
comparative
character
of
democratic
culture and the commitment to the values
of democracy is Gabriel A. Almond and
Sidney Verba.

Variables to which
pluralist political
cultures are
comprised:

1. Political cognition refers to how much

importance do people attribute to national
and local government. To what degree are
people exposed to politics and public
affairs, and how much political information
they possess.
2. Partisanship the degree of political feeling
people have (Partisan; a strong supporter
of a party, cause or person).

3. The third variable deals with the extent to

which citizens feel obligated to participate
in politics, their idea of a good citizen.
4. The fourth variable tested whether
competence, participation and political
allegiance were positively correlated.

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.

 In societies the more egalitarian the

polyarchy, the more democratic the society
is to become.
The more developed a society is and more
differentiated, the more likely it is to be
based on a competitive and democratic
politics, while the less developed the more
authoritarian its regime is likely to be.

Dahl concludes that:

The higher the socioeconomic level of a
country, the more likely that its regime is an
inclusive or near-polyarchy.
If a regime is polyarchy, it is more likely
to exist in a country at relatively high level
of socioeconomic development than at
lower level.

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)

 A society can be polyarchy at the top but

not at the base.
In order to overcome this in pluralist system
is for the weak to convert their interests
into values and demonstrate into the ruling
majority how violations of those values
challenge the dominant principles of
society.

Do members of the disadvantaged group

perceive it?
NO

YES

Do they judge it to be relevant to their own

condition?
NO

YES

Do they appraise it as illegitimate?

NO

YES

Do they feel anger, frustration, & resentment

NO
YES
over it?
NO

YES

Do they make demands for greater equality?

 Evidence shows that polyarchies are not

likely to function where there are extreme
inequalities.
They are not likely to succeed when
cleavages in the society are extreme,
particularly cleavages of the primordial
variety.

 Extreme inequality
erosion of polyarchy.

contributed

to

the

The question of what prerequisites are

necessary to make democracy work in the
real world is the question to which the
special theory of polyarchy addresses itsef.

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

 The value of the theory is that it points out

what conditions of the polity need to be
maximized.
These favor the representation of the weak,
protecting minorities so that during interelection periods their options are preserved
and acted on.
The Special Theory of polyarchy draws
attention to specific items necessary to
promote a more perfectly functioning
democratic system.

Pluralism and
Information
Availability

 It might be useful to indicate some variants

on the theory of polyarchy, especially with
regard to competition and information.
If contradictions, conflicts, and inequalities
grow rather than decline the situation
requires bureaucratic controls or the
exercise of power by vanguard elites to
mobilize the society. The cost of both
controls and mobilization, however, is
increasing coercion, which brings about
decreasing information availability.

 Since the more modernized and

industrialized a society becomes, the
greater is its need for information, high
coercion will slow growth and innovation
and prevent changes.

Information and
Coercion

C1

HIERARCHY

Information

I
1

Coercion

AMOUNT

 While pluralism is not a single theory or

idea it defines relationships of democracy
with referenceto equality, participation,
responsiveness, cleavage and consensus
stability, and growth.
All these factors can combine and
recombine in many forms. They represent
the basic ingredients in which modern
theories of democracy are composed.

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