LIBERAL-PLURALISM - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Key features:

societal

power is decentralized, widely shared, diffuse and fragmented, deriving from many sources, i.e. power pie divided into many pieces

society

consists of many diverse groups and associations (e.g. business,

labour

, professional, religious, etc…) and constitutes a conglomeration of dissimilar and often conflicting interests, no none of which plays a singularly dominant role, through a process of democratic competition the nature and direction of society are determined

society

is made up of a multitude of conflicting interest groups balanced by the state, groups are equally influential in their impact on government policy and major institutionsSlide2

LIBERAL-PLURALISM

assumption of a natural balance of power among various groups which is preserved through bargaining and compromise, win some and lose some, give and take, and thus equilibrium is reached in group

struggle

existence

of shared acceptance of basic political framework, i.e. consensus of values, democratic traditions, procedures &

principles

economic

and governmental institutions are separate not overlapping power

sources

tension

between necessity for strong, modernizing, central coordinator on one hand and a relatively equal distribution of social powers on other reflects cross-pulls of two allegedly functional pre-requisites – need of autonomy and need of integrationSlide3

LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Role of the

state:

Society

is a struggle of competing groups within an arena refereed by the state

State

represents institutionalized power and authority

State

is supreme guardian of representative democracy in modern society, from tension paves way for political competition and pluralist democracy

State

serves neither its own interests nor those of any single group or class

State

can act as bargaining agent or mediatorSlide4

LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Primary task of state is to balance interests of a multitude of competing groups, represents interests of society as a whole, coordinating the other major institutions OR

Primary

function is to promote harmony within system to secure equilibrium and order OR

to

police conflicts of

interest

From

these roles, state is able to institutionalize its rule and maintain order in society

Separation

of governmental power: plurality of competing governmental agencies, divisions and branches, existence of political parties, thus individuals/groups can have various points of access to decision-makersSlide5

LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Role/nature of the individual and of

groups:

Individuals

with common interests exert influence on decision-makers by collective action thus average citizens can have meaningful input into decision-making

Political

power is distributed over as many citizens working through their associations as want to take responsibility for power, through the voluntary association the ordinary citizen can acquire as much as power in the community or nation as their free time, ability and inclinations permit them (Arnold Rose)Slide6

LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Political process is made up of social groups and policy outcomes are result of group process, each group being autonomous and democratic

Potential groups: people who have shared attitudes, unorganized could organize

Cross cutting group membership: overlapping membership of groups, one individual may have many memberships and each group may have conflicting views on one issue, thus never have one all powerful group agreeing on all issues

In US, pluralism is popular; consider slogans of “government of, by and for the people”, “equality before the law” and “separation of power”Slide7

ELITE PLURALISM

Fuses

reality of Elite rule and democratic principles

Meaning

of democracy is changed from one of direct popular rule to that of competition between and within Elites to control the state

Elites

are not single integrated group, multiple centers of political power

Assumption

of balance

Assumption

that minority will have influence on Elite

Distrust

of mass participation in politicsSlide8

CRITIQUE OF LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Pertains

to voluntary associations, class bias of interest group activity, inequality of power resources, role of the state, consensus of political values, and democracy

Rationale

for status quo, defense of current US political system, parochial focus, not widely applicable – just to US

Actual

versus perceived role of voluntary associations, simply another level of bureaucracy

US society is not one of joiners, few are members of voluntary associations, usually the better educated, wealthier and higher social statusSlide9

CRITIQUE OF LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Those who are members of voluntary associations, the groups are social, cultural, youth, church or other whose primary interests are not political, and many of these groups lack any democratic control by rank an file and are bureaucratically structured which prevents direct individual participation in decision-making

Voluntary associations are asymmetrical in the amount of power they wield per member, e.g. union versus business associationSlide10

CRITIQUE OF LIBERAL-PLURALISM

Assumption that there is a balance of power among various groups, from religious groups to business groups, and pervasiveness of economic institutions ignored, balance of power as it is favors some and not others

State is not neutral mediator, rules change, agenda setting occurs

Assumption of widespread agreement on rules of the game, whose rules and who agrees, what of those who oppose

Modern version of democracy or perversion of democracy in complex, modern industrialized societies

 Slide11

CRITIQUE OF LIBERAL-PLURALISM

No concern for minimal participation of masses

Focus is governmental, public and not including private sector politics, what of Elites in educational sector, corporate sector, communication sector,

labour

sector, thus picture of societal power is limited

Pluralists are preoccupied with analyzing formal political institutions, confuses how politics is supposed to work and how it actually works under capitalism