Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Interest Groups – Question 8

Question for Matt S. What is democratic pluralism, and how well does it apply to South Carolina today?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Democratic pluralism is a term that was coined by political scientists. It means a counterbalance of multiple interest groups that each offset each other so that not all of them have the chance to gain the most power and be a dominant interest group. This also keeps the common interest in the eye of the interest groups and politicians. There are several types of groups in South Carolina that still remain prevalent. In SC they no longer call them interest groups they are now called lobbyists. These are people who try to influence legislators on issues they see as the most important. Interest groups range from business, to agricultural, to professional/occupational, to labor groups, to public interest, ideological, religious groups, to intergovernmental groups. These types of groups are still active in South Carolina, with each actively seeking to press their important issues to the top of a legislator’s list. Democratic pluralism applies well in the state. Interest groups are very dominant in the state, however there are some who are more dominant than others. The important thing to note here though is there is multiple groups who are seen as powerful therefore not giving all the power to one group in particular. There are several groups who hold the title of dominant within the state legislature and democratic pluralism has an aim of keeping groups from competing for dominance.

Matt Spivey

Robert Botsch, USCA Political Science said...

Matt did an excellent job, and all of you should read it carefully! Two slight corrections. 1) Lobbyists represent groups -- they have not replaced groups. 2) While the state clearly is closer to the level of inter-group competition required for pluralism to work than it was a decade or so ago, it is still with a heavy business flavor -- unions and civil rights groups have far less power than business groups -- Bob B