Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Corporatism, Elite, Alexis De Tocqueville
4 Oct 2016
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Thursday, March 3, 2016
Lecture 16 - Executives
March 3, 2016
[continued]
Pluralist Model
- De Tocqueville: modern democracy best grounded on interests, associations
(acknowledgement and acceptance of different interests/associations)
- Early 20th century – Century American Political science embraced pluralism
- Model Depends on:
o Interests easily form into groups (can be organized and effectively represented)
o Fair competition of interests
o Influence in line with size and intensity of support (can win policy from state if
they do their job well)
- Interest groups outperform parties at linking people and government
- Competition, bargaining, compromise (amongst each other and in relation to state
decision makes)…. Results in policy
- This is how people participate in decision making
- Elitist and Marxist critiques eroded confidence in model of fair group competition
(Government seeks to help interest groups that support what they’ve already decided in
party)
Neopluralism
- Response – neopluralism:
o No level playing field
o But no single, united, “power elite” – different issues, different dominant groups
- More sophisticated portrait of how policy works, acknowledging power does rise to top,
but broader picture is more diverse than Elitist and Marxists would imagine
Corporatist Model
- Privileging of some groups at expense of others (form voluntarily and involved in
competition, but not in corporatist model )
- Medieval Corporatism: corporate Groups (Aristocracy, Clergy, Producers)
- State corporatism: corporate groups tightly bound to authoritarian state (identifying
conservative interests and ignoring others)
- Liberal or Neo-Corporatism:
o Emphasis on labor and capital
o Encouragement of effectively organized peak associations (e.g. better if working
class is organized unions)
o Tripartite negotiations including the state
- Why is the state interested?
o Generates acceptance and legitimacy (for its policies because negotiations took
place)
o Create social peace, business confidence
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Document Summary
De tocqueville: modern democracy best grounded on interests, associations (acknowledgement and acceptance of different interests/associations) Early 20th century century american political science embraced pluralism. Interest groups outperform parties at linking people and government. Competition, bargaining, compromise (amongst each other and in relation to state decision makes) . This is how people participate in decision making. Elitist and marxist critiques eroded con dence in model of fair group competition (government seeks to help interest groups that support what they"ve already decided in party) Response neopluralism: no level playing eld, but no single, united, power elite different issues, different dominant groups. More sophisticated portrait of how policy works, acknowledging power does rise to top, but broader picture is more diverse than elitist and marxists would imagine. Privileging of some groups at expense of others (form voluntarily and involved in competition, but not in corporatist model ) Medieval corporatism: corporate groups (aristocracy, clergy, producers)
