Grommersoft

All governments have to make choices or decisions, but they do not all make them in the same way. One way to analyze how a country is governed is to consider how many people are involved in the decision-making process. When the rules are approved by only one person, the government is called an autocracy. A government in which only a few select people make binding decisions is an oligarchy. A government that allows many people to participate is a democracy.

Most Americans, if asked, would probably agree that they live in a democracy because the "people" govern. This simplistic answer obscures the reality and complexity of democratic government. Democracy, a word widely used in the world, conveys a variety of meanings and translates into numerous variations of government.

There are two schools of thought about what constitutes a democracy. The procedural view stresses the form and process of government, or how the people govern. Procedural democracy emphasizes the principles of universal participation, political equality, and majority rule. Modern nations are too large to employ direct (or participatory) democracy, and they must rely on indirect democracy in the form of representative government. When the people elect representatives to govern for them, the procedural view of democracy also insists on the principle of responsiveness, that the government should follow the general thrust of public opinion.

The substantive view concentrates on what a government actually does‹that is, the policies it makes should fulfill democratic ideals. A substantive theorist would not recognize a decision that violated those ideals (for example, limiting freedom of religion) as "democratic" even if it were made in response to majority wishes. Substantive theorists, however, do not agree on democratic ideals. Our book views democracy in terms of procedures rather than substance.

No nation is small enough to find direct democracy practical, so democratic governments develop established procedures and organizations to link public opinion to government policy. Elections, political parties, legislatures, and interest groups are all institutional mechanisms intended to keep American government responsive to the people.

Encompassed within the procedural view of democracy are two schools of thought. According to the majoritarian model of democracy, mass participation and majority rule are required procedures for democratic government. According to the pluralist model, government by the people can be interpreted to mean government operating through competing interest groups rather than government by public opinion. Pluralists advocate greater reliance on groups of citizens representing their interests to government decision makers.

An "undemocratic" approach to understanding American government is the elite model, which holds that the really important policy decisions are made by a few wealthy and influential individuals. Although voters appear to control government through elections, the real power is wielded by a small and select group to suit their own interests rather than those of the mass public. Because it identifies the ruling coalition as a distinct and durable group, the elite model differs from the pluralist model, which holds that different "minorities" rule on different issues. Despite the plausibility of the elite model, research has not supported its main argument‹that an identifiable group rules America.

In the world today, many nations are struggling to become democratic after long histories of authoritarian governments. These nations face problems including ethnic and religious rivalries, a lack of democratic traditions, and political and economic instability during the transition period.

Of the two models of democracy, the pluralist model with its openness to competing interest groups appears to approximate most closely the type of democracy practiced in America. American democracy does, however, fall short of the classic majoritarian concept of democracy grounded in universal participation, political equality, and majority rule. The majoritarian model is undercut by the reality of low citizen participation and political knowledge in the United States.

©1998 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.