Contemporary Government Democracy

One of the three contemporary theories of govement is The Pluralist Theory. In this theory, groups with shared interest influence public policy by pressing their concerns through organized efforts. Linkage institutions are key in this theory. Groups such as the NAACP and UAW are examples of the groups that would be pressing their concerns to the Policy Agenda. Since there isn’t just one group tying to press their concerns to the institutions of government and public officials, the power is spread among these groups. Not one group rules policy according to this theory. Also, in this theory, groups have more than one chance to get their concerns through because if they fail to get through congress they can and may succeed through the courts. Public interest is to eventually prevail through the groups in this theory. Supporters of this theory, called pluralists, believe that instead of a majority rule, groups of minorities should work together . They also think that precisely because there is a lack of group-based participation, democracy is at a decline. A negative version of pluralist theory comes in the form of another one of the three contemporary theory’s of government democracy, known as Hyper pluralism. In this theory, these interest groups are so powerful that they over rule the government, because their influence are so strong the take from the government’s ability to make policy. Basically, the groups have equal influence they cancel each other out and politics become stagnant. These interest groups include all interest groups not just elite ones. In this theory, unlike pluralistist theory where it is good that there are many groups sharing the power, in this theory, there are too many ways for groups to control policy, causing overlapping of jurisdictions and a chaotic mess stuck in policy gridlock. In this theory, the government gives in to every little interest and single group issue groups it becomes contradicting. This theory believes