Pluralism versus Party Theory: Central Themes
| Theme | Pluralism |
Party Theory |
| Self-Interest | Not an accurate description of the citizen, especially in a political context. People are not active in or well informed about politics. | Not an accurate description of the citizen, especially in electoral politics. People are not politically active or well informed, but, if information costs were low, they could be expected to act in their political self-interest. |
| Representation | Interests get represented through a multitude of channels. Elections are only one such channel, and not necessarily the most important one. Madison is right to emphasize factions, or interest groups, as a critically important means by which interests are represented before government. | Political representation will not regularly occur without political self-interest. The group system is too biased in favor of people with resources to be an adequate channel. If energized by self-interest, the electoral system is the best hope because it is based on equality. |
| Conflict/
dispersed power
|
There is significant conflict among thousands of organized interests in society. Power in government must be dispersed and fragmented to accommodate societal complexity and facilitate access by as many different interests as possible. Groups do check one another, as do government institutions. Only a pluralistic government representing a pluralistic society can be truly democratic. |
Conflict between the parties which draws citizens into politics and informs them of the stakes involved is desirable; but conflict in government defuses responsibility and raises information costs. Governmental power must be granted for a limited time to the winning party. Then, and only then, can responsibility be fixed and the system be truly democratic. |
Walter Stone, (1990) "Republic at Risk"
Brooks-Cole.