|
IFES
OMRLP
theory
Almond and Powell
pluralism
critiques of
pluralism
|
Interest
Articulation As Linkage
Interest articulation is, in part, about the politics of everyday life.
How people make demands upon their government seems like a rudimentary fact
to us but is part of a larger process of political development.
Indeed, what people "quarrel about" is a key to understanding any
country. The demands on any political system can be small ("fix my
potholes!") or great ("change the distribution of resources in
society!". If government does a good job of processing demands then
there is generally system stability and (long-term) "systems
maintenance".
The interest articulation process is thus about "linking" people to
the political system.
In societies which are generally deemed to be democratic, the role of the
citizen is often viewed from one of two perspectives:
1)
the pluralist view (contemporary democracy)
essentially sees democracy as "institutional arrangements"
a "democratic" system is one that has:
electoral mechanisms
viable, competing parties
minimal participation
Pluralists (Schumpeter, Dahl, etc.) often talk about the dangers of participation
to them voting is meant to be a check on leaders
2) participatory
democracy (classical democracy)
stresses the role that participation plays in the development of character
sees participation as the key to the transformation of people from
individual (private) to citizen (public)
Carole Pateman, a noted political theorist argues
that participation must be more than the protective adjunct to the
institutional arrangements of democratic systems. She makes three key
arguments:
1) political participation has a psychological effect on those who
participate since by making decisions, citizens develop a sense of
responsibility for individual, social, and political action
2) collective decisions are more easily accepted than individual decisions.
Since most decisions are "trade offs" if one has participated in
the decision they are more likely to see the relationship between the benefit
gain and the sacrifice made
3) participation increases the feelings of community and a sense of
integration in the community--a sense of identity and group consciousness.
Thus, for classical or participatory theorists, the key function of
participation is educational
(creating citizens), not instrumental
(regime stability)
Thus, classical or participatory theorists argue that
plural theorists have fundamentally revised and altered the normative
significance of democracy!!!
In part, they argue that representative democracy is really not
democracy!!!!!!!
|
Questions to Consider:
Which view of democracy do you think is most important?
Should democracy be about "institutional arrangements" or about
"educating citizens"?
Do you see the two ideas as mutually exclusive?
|
|