Concentration of Power is an inevitable feature of all political systems. Discuss. - page 5
Keywords: concentration of power seperation theories political marxism marxist elitism elitist pluralism pluralist
By exploiit on 19/06/2010
Level: A Level (Year 13)
Page Number: 5 of 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
the different areas of society. Should they fail to deliver for the electorate, the masses hold the power to remove them from their position.
Likewise, pluralists cite that the role of interest or pressure groups in liberal democracies is very real proof that power is dispersed as opposed to concentrated – as they do not seek election, interest groups have the freedom to target very specific areas of policy and lobby for government change. Interest groups can exist in different forms – narrow-based promotional groups such as Fathers4Justice or the NSPCC and broad, protective groups like the British Medical Association or the National Farmers’ Union.
Robert Dahl was one pluralist who attempted to gather empirical evidence to support this theory by studying local politics in New Haven, Connecticut to see if any particular issue dominated policy making. He observed that several interest groups were involved in the decision making process and that some groups were dominant in particular areas. Overall however, he concluded that power was dispersed between the groups and denied any evidence suggesting that dominance in decision making was based on economics or class.
Modern advocates of the theory, Elite Pluralists, agree with the classical view that power is dispersed within western democracies and that the government partakes in a ‘business of compromise’. However, they point out that some groups and individuals in society hold more power than others and elites largely control decision making, allowing only ‘safe decisions’ to be left to the public.
These ideas were evidenced in the studies of elite pluralists Richardson and Johnson who analysed the decision making process of the British government in the 1980s. They found that the government tried to minimise conflict by paying attention to a wide-range of interest groups but that this attention was not necessarily equal. They discovered that ‘insider groups’ such as the British Medical Association were very closely linked with the government and therefore exercised significant influence in decision making. ‘Outsider groups’, they found, were less consulted during the process and had less influence and ‘promotional groups’ who were much less disorganised and aimed at targeting specific areas of policy displayed very little influence at all. This study is significant in that it suggests that although power in society is extended and not concentrated, this is only true to an extent.
Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that concentration of power in the political system is very
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