Robert A.

Dahl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert A. Dahl
Born

December 17, 1915

Inwood, Iowa, U.S.

Died

February 5, 2014 (aged 98)

Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.

Fields

Political science, Democratic

theory

Alma mater University of Washington

Yale University, Ph.D.
Thesis

Socialist Programs and

Democratic Politics: An
Analysis

Academic
advisors

Francis Coker, Harvey

Mansfield, Sr.

Notable
students

Catherine
MacKinnon Guillermo
O'Donnell Nelson
Polsby Ian Shapiro Edward
Tufte Ray Wolfinger

Known for

Polyarchy, pluralism

Influences

Elite theory Kenneth

Arrow Lon Duguit James
Coleman Carl Hempel

Influenced

Charles Lindblom, Tom

Malleson

Spouse

Mary Louise Bartlett (1940

1970)
Ann Sale (19732014)

Children

Robert Alan Dahl (/dl/; December 17, 1915 February 5, 2014) was
a political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Scienceat Yale University.
His established the pluralist theory of democracyin which political outcomes
are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interests groupand introduced
"polyarchy" as a descriptor of actual democratic governance. An originator of
"empirical theory" and known for advancing behavioralist characterizations of
political power, Dahl's research focused on the nature of decisionmaking in
actual institutions, such as American cities. Dahl is considered one of the most
influential political social scientists of the twentieth century, and has been
described as "the dean of American political scientists."[1][2]
Dahl received his Ph.D. at Yale in 1940 and served on its political science
faculty from 1946 to 1986. His influential early books include A Preface to
Democratic Theory (1956), Who Governs? (1961), and Pluralist Democracy in
the United States (1967), which presented pluralistic explanations for political
rule in the United States.[3][4] He was elected president of the American Political
Science Association in 1966.
Contents
[hide]

1 Writings

2 Influence terms

3 Democracy and polyarchies

4 Prizes

5 Criticism

6 Bibliography

7 References

8 Sources

9 Further reading

10 External links

Writings[edit]

Robert A. Dahl teaching a political science class at Yale University

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was involved in an academic disagreement
with C. Wright Mills over the nature of politics in the United States. Mills held
that America's governments are in the grasp of a unitary and demographically
narrow power elite. Dahl responded that there are many different elites involved,
who have to work both in contention and in compromise with one another. If
this is not democracy in a populist sense, Dahl contended, it is at
least polyarchy (or pluralism). In perhaps his best known work, Who Governs?
(1961), he examines the power structures (both formal and informal) in the city
of New Haven, Connecticut, as a case study, and finds that it supports this view.
[5]

From the late 1960s onwards, his conclusions were challenged by scholars such
as G. William Domhoff and Charles E. Lindblom (a friend and colleague of
Dahl).[6][7]
In How Democratic Is the American Constitution? (2001) Dahl argued that
the US Constitution is much less democratic than it ought to be, given that its
authors were operating from a position of "profound ignorance" about the future.
However, he adds that there is little or nothing that can be done about this "short
of some constitutional breakdown, which I neither foresee nor, certainly, wish
for." [8]
Influence terms[edit]
One of Robert Dahls many contributions is his explication of the varieties of
power, which he defines as A getting B to do what A wants. Dahl prefers
the more neutral influence terms, (Michael G. Roskin) which he arrayed on a
scale from best to worst:

1. Rational Persuasion, the nicest form of influence, means telling the truth
and explaining why someone should do something, like your doctor
convincing you to stop smoking.
2. Manipulative persuasion, a notch lower, means lying or misleading to get
someone to do something.
3. Inducement still lower, means offering rewards or punishments to get
someone to do something, i.e. like bribery.
4. Power threatens severe punishment, such as jail or loss of job.
5. Coercion is power with no way out; you have to do it.
6. Physical force is backing up coercion with use or threat of bodily harm.
Thus, we can tell which governments are best; the ones that use influence at the
higher end of the scale. The worst use the unpleasant forms of influence at the
lower end.[citation needed]
Democracy and polyarchies[edit]
Main article: polyarchy
In his book, Democracy and Its Critics (1989), Dahl clarifies his view about
democracy. No modern country meets the ideal of democracy, which is as a
theoretical utopia. To reach the ideal requires meeting five criteria:[9]
1. Effective participation
Citizens must have adequate and equal opportunities to form their
preference and place questions on the public agenda and express reasons
for one outcome over the other.
2. Voting equality at the decisive stage
Each citizen must be assured his or her judgments will be counted as
equal in weights to the judgments of others.
3. Enlightened understanding
Citizens must enjoy ample and equal opportunities for discovering and
affirming what choice would best serve their interests.
4. Control of the agenda
Demos or people must have the opportunity to decide what political
matters actually are and what should be brought up for deliberation.

5. Inclusiveness
Equality must extend to all citizens within the state. Everyone has
legitimate stake within the political process.
Instead, he calls politically advanced countries "polyarchies". Polyarchies have
elected officials, free and fair elections, inclusive suffrage, rights to run for
office, freedom of expression, alternative information and associational
autonomy. Those institutions are a major advance in that they create multiple
centers of political power.[10]
Prizes[edit]
Dahl was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science in 1995.[4]
Criticism[edit]

Sociologist G. William Domhoff strongly disagrees with Dahl's view of

power in New Haven, CT in the 1960s: "Who Really Ruled in Dahl's New
Haven?"[citation needed]

Political philosopher Charles Blattberg has criticized Dahl's attempt to

define democracy with a set of necessary and sufficient conditions.[citation needed]

Bibliography[edit]
The best known of Dahl's works include:

1953 - Politics, Economics, and Welfare (with Charles E. Lindblom)

1956 - A Preface to Democratic Theory (new edition in 2006)

1957 - The Concept of Power

1957 - Decision-Making in a Democracy: The Supreme Court as a

National Policy-Maker

1960 - Social science research on business: product and potential

1961 - Who Governs?: Democracy and Power in an American City

1963 - Modern Political Analysis

1966 - Political oppositions in Western Democracies

1968 - Pluralist democracy in the United States : conflict and consent

1970 - After the Revolution? : Authority in a good society

1971 - Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition

1973 - Size and Democracy (with Edward R. Tufte)

1983 - Dilemmas of Pluralist Democracy: Autonomy vs. Control

"Polyarchy, Pluralism, and Scale," Scandinavian Political Studies (1984)

7#4 pp 225240.

1985 - A Preface to Economic Democracy

1985 - Controlling Nuclear Weapons: Democracy versus Guardianship

1989 - Democracy and Its Critics

1997 - Toward Democracy - a Journey: Reflections, 1940-1997

1998 - On Democracy

2002 - How Democratic Is the American Constitution?

2003 - The Democracy Sourcebook. (An anthology edited by Robert A.

Dahl, Ian Shapiro and Jos Antonio Cheibub)

2005 - After The Gold Rush

2006 - On Political Equality

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Rodrigues, Adrien; Lloyd-Thomas, Matthew (7

February 2014). "Dahls Legacy Remembered". Yale Daily News.
Retrieved 11 February 2015.

2.

Jump up^ Campbell, John C. (Fall 1985). "Controlling Nuclear

Weapons: Democracy Versus Guardianship". Foreign Affairs.
Retrieved February 7, 2014.

3.

Jump up^ "Robert Dahl, Sterling Professor Emeritus in Political

Science, passes away". Yale University Department of Political Science.
7 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2015.

4.

^ Jump up to:a b Martin, Douglas (February 8, 2014). "Robert A.

Dahl, defined politics and power; at 98". The New York Times.

5.

Jump up^ Heinz Eulau, "Who Governs? Democracy and Power in

an American City. By Robert A. Dahl," American Political Science
Review (1962) 56#1 pp 144-145.

6.

Jump up^ G. William Domhoff, Who really rules?: New Haven

and community power reexamined (Transaction Books, 1978).

7.

Jump up^ David Vogel, Fluctuating fortunes: The political power

of business in America (2003)

8.

Jump up^ Robert Alan Dahl (2003). How Democratic is the

American Constitution?. Yale UP. p. 144.

9.

Jump up^ R.A. Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics, Yale University
Press, p.221

10.

Jump up^ R.A. Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics, Yale University
Press, p.222

Sources[edit]

Roskin, Cord, Medeiros, Jones. (2008). Political Science: An

Introduction, (10th Edition). New Jersey. ISBN 0-13-242576-9

Jeong Chun Hai @Ibrahim, & Nor Fadzlina Nawi. (2007). Principles of
Public Administration: An Introduction. Kuala Lumpur: Karisma
Publications. ISBN 978-983-195-253-5

Further reading[edit]

Morriss, Peter. "Power in New Haven: A Reassessment of Who

Governs?," British Journal of Political Science (1972) 2#4 pp 457-465.

Shapiro, Ian, and Grant Reeher, eds Power, Inequality, and Democratic
Politics: Essays in Honor of Robert A. Dahl (Westview Press, 1988)

Interview by Richard Snyder: "Robert A. Dahl: Normative Theory,

Empirical Research and Democracy," pp. 11349, in Gerardo L. Munck and
Richard Snyder, Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative
Politics (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).