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Robert Alan Dahl (/ d ɑː l /; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University.. He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interest groups—and introduced "polyarchy" as a descriptor of actual democratic governance.
In addition, there are a few countries which use the term "Democratic Republic" in the name and have a good record of holding free or relatively free general elections and were rated "flawed democracy" or "full democracy" in the Democracy Index, such as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste , the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe ...
Although democracy is generally understood to be defined by voting, [1] [10] no consensus exists on a precise definition of democracy. [15] Karl Popper says that the "classical" view of democracy is, "in brief, the theory that democracy is the rule of the people and that the people have a right to rule". [16]
Dahl supposes that there are certain conditions that make it easier to maintain a democracy in a given country. He writes that they seem to include "the effective control by elected leaders over the military and police, a political culture supportive of democratic beliefs, and a relatively well-functioning economic order, among others."
A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution, organization, or state, in which members have a share of power. [2] Modern democracies are characterized by two capabilities of their citizens that differentiate them fundamentally from earlier forms of government: to intervene in society and have their sovereign (e.g., their representatives) held ...
In the following years Democracy and Its Critics won the 1991 Elaine and David Spitz Book Award and the 1990 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award. [1] In the book, Dahl "examines the most basic assumptions of democratic theory, tests them against the questions raised by its critics, and recasts the theory of democracy into a new and coherent whole.
The title of Politics literally means "the things concerning the πόλις ", and is the origin of the modern English word politics. As Aristotle explains, this is understood by him to be a study of how people should best live together in communities – the polis being seen by him as the best and most natural community for humans.
At the core of Keane's book is the author's belief that history is a necessary key for understanding democracy in the present time. Keane's worldwide perspective is an important corrective to the (mainly Western) idea that democracy has one and only distinctive form; one type of model that can be brought as a gift to people with different attitudes and histories.