“Who Governs?” Robert Dahl

Who Governs? Open, but Unequal System: Who Governs? In a political system where virtually everyone can vote, yet there is vast inequalities in knowledge, wealth, social position, access to officials, who actually governs? (95)

New Haven: Who Governs? New Haven: Cumulative to Non-Cumulative Inequality The city experienced a radical change in last two centuries; changing from oligarchy to pluralism. (96) In the process, there was a profound change in “the way political resources are distributed among the citizens of New Haven.”

New Haven: Who Governs? Inequality did not disappear. But there was a shift from cumulative inequality to non-cumulative or dispersed inequality. Cumulative Inequality: Those who are better off in one resource, are more than likely better off in another, such as social standing, legitimacy…knowledge…

New Haven: Who Governs? Though New Haven is still unequal, it is not longer “dominated by one cohesive set of leaders…” That system has given away to one “dominated by many different sets of leaders…each with different resources. (96) It is, in short, a pluralist system.

New Haven: Who Governs? Pluralist New Haven: Still Not Clear Who Governs (96) Neither elites, nor people rule now. Who rules then? It is difficult to tell: it is complicated by the intricate relationships between leaders and citizens. (96) Not Clear Who is in Charge According to some, leaders are in charge. But from another perspective, constituents rule. Leaders are certainly in a reciprocal relationship with citizens.

Different Political Stratums Different Stratums: Political and Apolitical (97) In every political system, there are those who are highly active. They are the political stratum. Comparing Political and Apolitical For one, politics is highly salient, for the other it is remote, for one, political choice is calculated and informed, for the other it is more impulsive (or, more influenced by habit, unexamined loyalties, emotions…) (98)

Different Political Stratums Political Stratum is not a Single, Uniform Group (99) It is not a closed group, no are its members united in their orientation and strategies. There are cleavages… (99)

“A Preface to Democratic Theory” People Can Get Themselves Heard (100) They can get themselves heard by getting officials to respond to them. Nature of Govt Decision in Pluralist Democracy Decision in Pluralist Democracy is “a majestic march of great majorities united upon certain matters of basic policy. It is the steady appeasement of the relatively small groups… It is a decentralized system, and it is not a static system. ( )

The Nature of Power and Roots of Quiescence This type of control may happen in absence of conflict, which has been averted. Theory of Power cannot focus on actually behavior: it must consider also the way in which “potential” conflicts or debates are avoided, or prevented from ever occurring.