Power Elite

I believe that the elite democracy plays a major role in how each federal and state government divides its power. A reason that I say it’s elite is because usually the people running for these elected positions are people who have money and power and they rule through the consent of the people who elect them, especially in the local government a lot of the times the people going into office are well known in society. It is also a popular democracy because people have a lot of say into what laws or changes in general get

Government is an essential part of civilization in modern and historic times. This crucial element of society has been observed in different forms. There are three main systems of governments: autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Which system a government belongs to is determined by who hold the sovereignty, meaning who has the supreme power and authority (“Sovereignty”). This leads to there being major differences between autocracies, oligarchies, and democracies.

In the United States, pluralism is pertinent and very significant for the government because the government itself is distributed with various powers given to the states. These states then give powers to their local governments, which continues to distribute the power. In the government system, there are levels of that consist of branches that control the many different parts of the system, so that no one person or group is given too much power. The United States has a system of checks and balances, which is pertinent to the power system and the pluralist theory ("What is a pluralist theory of government?" 2017).

Those two classes are the ones who rule and the second is the rest who do not rule. According to the text, “Government is always government by the few, whether in the name of the few, the one, or the many” (13). Those who make up the elites are generally the wealthier population. The Big Four is an example of elites who used their political power to control those who do not have their own power. The Big Four helped contribute to California’s land development and growth.

Every form of government is bound to have some shortfalls. Different people have different views about the various political systems. But in today's world, democracy is considered to be the best form of government, reason being that people are treated equally and have full rights to live a life of their liking. Unlike a Oligarchy government is not considered to be a

An elite is considered as the few in any organization or society who have power. (pg. 1)

A major problem that many representative democracies had, and still have, is securing minorities rights within a system ruled by the majority of that country. This is when the term modern pluralism comes into light. Modern pluralism is the idea that having a large number of parties within a government will create more power in the system, which ensures that not a single group will contain total control.

Aristotle says that justice is thought of as equality among all, there is a disregard to merit (p.172). In a society, there is usually more poor people and because there is this demand of equality then the majority rule (p.174). Mob rule is then authoritative. All governments have their forms, which are good and are bad. Democracy to Aristotle is not the best regime because it is ruled by the poor or the ones that need from the government. Government is not chosen by those who pursue virtue, but instead pursue wealth. The democratic principle is that of freedom, wealth, and birth. Not virtue. He believes the best regime would not be exactly a democracy but a polity that would be a combination of freedom, wealth, birth and virtue. The best regime has ideal conditions in which it becomes a predictable regime and consists of values, choices, the inanimate, elements of the class of workers, and the education of rulers. Democracy has a big defect in that it does not have intelligence or wisdom. It is the rule of many. It is based on the idea of happiness by following pleasures (p.48). Democracy comes into play when the majority revolt against the oligarchy because of the ideas of freedom. The problem with it is that people are pursuing their pleasures, not thinking of the state as a whole. There is unity based on pleasure. Before long, everyone is pursuing their own pleasures and there is an undermining of authority

Pluralist theory views politics and decision making as a competitive phenomenon where different groups and individuals have different views and that there is no single elite group that exercises influence (Davis & Go, 2009). The theory holds that power is relatively broadly distributed among different interest groups. These groups hold different views of the same aspect and compete with each other for

Democracy has become the most widespread political form of government during the past decade, after the fall of all its alternatives. During the second part of the 20th century, the 3 main enemies of democracy, namely communism, fascism and Nazism, lost most of their power and influence. However, democracy is still only to be found in less than half of this world's countries. China with a fifth of the total population "had never experienced a democratic government" and Russia still doesn't have a well established democracy. By adopting a democratic perspective, 3 types of governments emerge, non-democratic, new democracies, and old democracies, and all have a different challenge to overcome: either to become democratic, to "consolidate"

For democracies this is based mostly on equality. This happens when the poor and the rich are treated equally and the majority would be able to rule since both groups have equal opportunities to rule this would also mean that one does not have more authority than the other PG105. Other forms of democracy can include allowing all to take part in offices but with law, or allowing the multitude and not the law to have authority. In such cases, "the people become a monarch, from many combining into one." There is also some contradiction as well due to the fact that "where the laws do not rule there is no

Have you ever felt like democracy is just an illusion? Have you ever suspected that there are very “powerful people” who’ve created a system that appears to be democratic, but actually cuts ordinary citizens out of the decision-making process? Have you ever wondered: “Who is really running things, and what exactly are they trying to achieve?” If you have, you’re not alone.

one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.

In this response I will talk about what I read about in Chapter 1 discussing the difference between elite and pluralist theory, and why it’s important to have citizen engagement. I will then talk about what I read in Chapter 2 regarding Why the colonists revolted against the British, talk about the American political thought and how if affected the way the founding fathers made their own government after winning independence. The elite theory believes that the government is based of people with wealth and education. This theory believes that there are only a few people who run the government and the rest of the population. It is said that the elite people use their power and wealth to do things that will favor them in the economy and help them gain money. Using their power to help with wealth and not actually help the government. Pluralist theory is the complete opposite saying that if people really wanted too they could get involved in the government they just have to really try and get involved. Pluralists believe that there are many access points in the government you just need to try and get in, there also many different ways you can get involved in the government. I do believe that the elite theory is something that is true and something that we do deal with as nation. Our government is ruled by few elite groups that control our nation and make decisions in our government that will only help them out to make them wealthier instead of helping the community. Don't get me

Churchill’s claim that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” is deliberately provocative and intended to challenge the reader’s simplistic ideal that democracy is without faults. There are an estimated 114 democracies in the world today (Wong, Oct 3rd lecture). A figure that has increased rapidly in the last century not necessarily because democracy is the best form of government, but primarily for reason that in practice, under stable social, economic and political conditions, it has the least limitations in comparison to other forms of government. Be it the transparency of a democratic government or the prevalence of majority rule, all subdivisions of democracy benefit and hinder its