POLITICAL SCIENCE

Political Science

Political Science

Pluralist" model or theory of U.S. Government

Democracy is a venerable idea. Invented in ancient Greece more than 2,500 years ago, the idea of democracy continues to exercise a powerful influence over the modern mind. The theories and practices potentially included in the expansive category “modern democratic thought” are numerous. In this short chapter, no attempt is made to be comprehensive. Rather, the field of inquiry is strategically narrowed to present a concise overview of modern democratic thought. The assumption that guides the organization of this chapter is that the reader is interested in academic political science and possibly curious about pursuing that interest further. Therefore, in this chapter, the ostensibly overwhelming topic of modern democratic thought will be tackled first by situating the concept of democracy within the context of American political science. Once our subject has been so contextualized, the functional distinction between democratic thought and democratic theory will be introduced. Next, the category of democratic theory will be subdivided into five categories, each representing one of the major theories of democracy extant today. The often fuzzy relationship between democratic theory and practice will be touched on and followed by some pertinent avenues for future research.

Systematic inquiry into democracy is as old as Aristotle's investigation into ancient Greek constitutions and as recent as a research paper presented at the last meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). Since their Associations' inception in 1903, American political scientists have been keenly interested in the subject of democracy. As chronicled by John G. Gunnell (2004), APSA has always consciously and unconsciously understood its mission in terms of democracy, whether it was to describe how democracy functioned in the past or how it functions in the modern present, to predict how it may function in the future, or to prescribe how it ought to function. (Dahl, 1982).

Democracy continues to be a subject of supreme interest among political scientists. Consequently, the state of contemporary democratic theory is vibrant and will likely remain so indefinitely. It should be obvious now that students interested in pursuing a career as a political scientist (especially in the United States, but internationally as well) ought to keep in mind the discipline's enduring interest in democracy. Prudent students will make a serious effort to become conversant with modern democratic thought. This entails becoming familiar with the various theories of democracy that have been formulated by political ...