Elitism and Pluralism Debate

Running head : ELITISM AND PLURALISM DEBATE

Elitism and Pluralism Debate

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Abstract

Since the 1960s , citizen pressure groups have been gradually turning into the major element of the American political decision making Citizen pressure groups have changed Washington 's political environment they have become the sources and the initiators of the major political cleavages and policymaking uncertainties . Pressure groups have created an image of unproductive Congress , and have decreased the power of subgovernments

Elitism and Pluralism Debate

Introduction

The

rise of pressure groups in the United States has created strong foundation for the development of the new policymaking networks . Despite the fact that in many instances the political decision-making was influenced by economic and social elites , pressure groups have become indispensable elements of the contemporary politics

Citizen pressure groups have proved to be remarkably resilient , and they are a strong and stable force in American politics (Berry , 2002 Despite the claims that citizen pressure groups have not expanded their influence onto the all political areas , they have completely changed Washington 's approaches to decision-making the political strength of pressure groups could no longer be ignored by parties and politicians The development of citizen pressure movement was long and thorny , but the mere fact that Reagan 's administration was seeking the means to limit their activity proves a simple fact : citizen pressure groups have turned into an extremely influential political force . The impact of their decisions and pressures is still perceived in Washington 's political environment

It is easier and more correct to determine political activity in terms of networks , and not groups . Pressure groups have made the whole political process substantially opener furthermore , citizen groups have become the sources and initiators of a new political vision , where networks played the predominant political role and were built on trust familiarity , and immediate need (Berry , 2002 . Those networks have become the results of an extremely well formulated pressure strategy which citizen groups exercised in politics . Pressure groups reformulated their special needs into a program of legislation that allegedly would benefit a large part of society and the best interests of the nation . They conducted vigorous campaigns to get as many members as possible this was done to impress legislators or administrators with wide popular demand for the pressure group 's program (Grazia , 1992 The professional strategies , which Grazia (1992 ) mentioned in his work have later resulted in the political success of the citizen pressure groups during Washington 's negotiations over free trade agreement with Mexico (Berry , 2002 . At that time , ecological formations were acquiring additional political weight and were exercising almost unlimited political authority . Mexico free trade negotiations have shown the ability of citizen pressure groups to penetrate into political domains where they previously had no presence at all (Berry , 2002 . The political weight of citizen pressure groups was growing so rapidly , that the American community no longer viewed Congress as a productive political formation . On the contrary , the pressure groups were creating the political climate...