POL100: Introduction to Politics

Questions on Bentley and Dahl

Bentley advances an approach to politics that focuses on "groups." What does he mean by "groups" and what does he hope to gain from understanding politics as the operation of them? How does his understanding of "groups" differ from Madison's understanding of "factions"?

Bentley argues that there is no "interest," only "interests." What does he mean by this claim?

Where do democratic institutions fit into Bentley's account of politics as group contestation?

What does Bentley mean by an "absent" or "quiescent" group?

Dahl has two important lists in the sections that you have: a list of five characteristics that make up that he calls five criteria for an "ideal democratic process," (132-33), and the seven institutions that capture the distinctive characteristics of modern democratic government (133), or what he later calls "polyarchy." Look over these lists. Why does Dahl draw up these two lists? To what extent are "polyarchies" also "ideal democracies"?

Dahl argues that "Marxism and Italian elite theory . . . go wrong . . . in underestimating the strength of tendencies toward political autonomy and mutual control" (135). What does he mean by this statement, and do you find his view persuasive? How can subjects "raise the costs of domination," according to Dahl?

What are the main defects in pluralist democracy, according to Dahl?