The Pluralist Model of Democracy

This political cartoon shows an interest group trying to get the policies they want

There are three models of representative democracy, participatory, pluralist, and elite. In these models, participatory represents a democracy ruled by people, pluralist represents a democracy ruled by groups, and elite represents a democracy ruled by the upper class. The founders intent for a stable American democracy run by the people is the pluralist model of government because it is the most relevant to today’s society and is the closest example to the form of government described in Federalist #10.  

Pluralist democracy is made up of interest groups who compete, bargain, and compromise to get the policies they want. This is prevalent in today’s society in many ways. One way pluralist democracy is represented is by protest of any kind. A scenario depicting this is seen in NFL football, “disturbed by a series of violent encounters between police officers and African Americans, an NFL football player decided to take a knee during the National Anthem as a sign of protest against institutional racism in governmental agencies. His actions set off similar actions by others in both the professional and collegiate sports realms and has filtered down to some high school venues as well”(Balanda’s scenario). The football player’s actions creates an interest group, these people have the same opinions and they can bargain, compete, and compromise to get the policies they want, thus creating an example of pluralism. Another representation of this form of democracy is seen in Federalist #10, written by one of the founding fathers, James Madison. Madison’s primary concern in Federalist #10 is factions, “by a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community”(Madison). James Madison’s idea of “factions” are practically the same exact thing as the interest groups that are the central idea to pluralism. Madison specifically used his knowledge of factions to create the Constitution with the idea that these factions could function in society without one overpowering another. This is how interest groups work, there can be many of them, and some may create conflicts with one another, but this will not necessarily impact the government or create a tyranny. These factions have been coexisting successful in society for over 200 years and have been representing the model of pluralist democracy very accurately.  

Although each of the three models have certain aspects that can be seen in today’s government, the pluralist model of democracy shows the most accurate representation. Pluralism is most prevalent in today’s society and it effectively depicts what James Madison described as a “faction”.