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Theories Of American Democracy

Decent Essays

Theories of American Democracy
I believe the pluralism theory best explains the American political process because, it speaks on the existence of classes, it emphasizes how the larger the group the bigger the influence it will have, and it is based on power being dispersed. These facts coincide with America’s current political process. To begin analyzing the pluralism theory we have to first take note that it states, most decision making happens in the framework of the government, but groups will use their resources to influence these choices.
The existence of political parties and interest groups also adds to the idea of power being distributed. Having these different classes prevents one group or person from making decisions that affect all of society. This is primarily how the United States government works, there are different groups, each one pushing for their own preferences. “…leaders influence the decisions of constituents, but the decisions of leaders are also determined in part by what they think they are, will be, or have been the preferences of their constituents.” (Dahl, 90) The political parties will state what they will change, if we were to vote for them, this is how they influence our decisions. We all want whoever is in charge to have the …show more content…

Therefore if the majority of the population sides with one party, it dramatically influences the votes. “In the apolitical strata, people are notably less calculating; their political choices are more strongly influenced by inertia, habit, unexamined loyalties, personal attachments, emotions, transient impulses.” (Dahl, 90) There are many citizens that will continuously vote for the same party out of commitment. In America many do not notice that when election time comes around, the candidate’s preferences differ. The person whom they were rooting for way back when, does not share the exact same priorities as the current runner

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