Advantages Of Pluralism

Thirdly, the theory of pluralism is overly optimistic and therefore isn’t very useful. In reality many groups fail and in a truly pluralist democracy all groups would have a fair chance to succeed . Pluralism can’t exist when groups aren’t equal and although competition is a hallmark of pluralism only the groups whom have the most resources will win. Furthermore, this competition is usually by the elite pressure groups also known as competitive elitism a theory created by Schumpeter . An example of competitive elitism is the 2016 European union UK referendum. Many pressure groups applied to be the official groups to represent each side respectively. The electoral commission announced the groups would be, “‘Vote Leave Ltd’ and ‘The In Campaign

This is because of three main reasons: government controlling agenda, there are outside groups, whom have no influence and there is inequality amongst groups in the political system. If pluralism truly existed all groups would be equal as well as having an equal opportunity to be an insider group and therefore addressing the last two arguments. The most important argument against the utility of pluralism is government controlling the agenda. This is because groups can’t affect policy if it is not on the governments agenda. This is usually because of manifesto promises or ideology, and if these groups whose aims aren’t shared by government they will be outsiders. One of the biggest reasons groups are insiders or outsiders is because of the governments agenda. This shows the overarching importance of the agenda in demonstrating how pluralism isn’t very useful. Furthermore, groups aren’t equal because some have elites or have more resources which shows the disparity between groups who succeed or fail. For all the above reasons pluralism as a theory isn’t useful, although stoker in his quote isn’t completely wrong. If pluralism was completely inexistent no groups would succeed, and government would be the only actor in policy making. As a result of there being insider groups who share the governments agenda or groups with experts who can help deliver the agenda;