Consider Contemporary American politics – we complain about “special interests”, we observe the rise of the “Tea Party”, we see the power of morality based single issue groups, we watch parties deadlock over economic policy, the budget, nominations and so on…
Now consider the two dominant ways of thinking about how democratic political systems make policy — the elite model (all policy reflects the interests of an elite group) and the pluralist model (all policy reflects the political infighting and relative power of interest groups, movement groups, political parties, etc).
Which of these provides the most satisfactory explanation of the way the political process runs? Your answer must be based on interpretation of available evidence which you will cite… It will also be closely based on the arguments in the text… Be sure to provide the concrete evidence… YOU MUST CITE TEXT IN CHAPTERs 5 & 6 THROUGHOUT YOUR ESSAY TO RECEIVE ANY CREDIT!
Please keep in mind that models and theories are used to help understand complex phenomenon. They are NOT strategies or plans to be used…