1995

Justifying Democracy
Robert A. Dahl

I was born in 1915 in a small town in Iowa: most of in the Rocky Mountains is still one of my greatest
the people in and around my town were farmers. passions.
My father was a doctor. His father's parents had been Second: living in a small village surrounded by
farmers in North Dakota, to which they had immigrated mountains on three sides and the sea on the other,
from Norway. My mother, on the other hand, was of cut off from the rest of the world in the winter except
English and Scottish ancestry; I am in some ways a for the occasional boat delivering supplies, one comes
rather typical American "melting pot" mixture. to know the people around you extremely well. Al-
Although I did not give much thought to these mat- most every person becomes a highly concrete, very
ters when I was growing up, later I realized that they specific individual, with concrete and specific quali-
surely must have influenced, perhaps subtly, my views ties. In that situation I learned to respect human be-
of the world. For example, earlier than most others in ings without romanticizing them either individually
American political science, I became interested in the or collectively.
smaller European democracies, whose history and Third, I learned something--far from enough, I am
politics had been largely ignored. In editing Political afraid--about racial discrimination. About a quarter
Positions in Western Europe I made sure to include of the population were Native Americans, members
chapters on countries like Norway, Sweden, and Aus- of the Tlingit tribe, which had once had a very com-
tria. In doing so I formed enduring friendships with plex and well functioning culture. They suffered in-
the late Stein Rokkan in Norway and Hans Daalder in credible social, economic, and cultural discrimination:
the Netherlands, and, together with the late Val Lorwin, They were virtually a racial caste. Though I went to
an American historian who specialized in Belgium and school with them, sometimes played, hunted, and
France, we collaborated for some years on an effort to fished with them, and often worked side by side with
stimulate research and writing on the smaller Euro- them during my summers, to my lasting regret I never
pean democracies. wholly broke through the barriers of caste.
When I was ten we moved to Alaska, where my Fourth, because every boy in town was expected to
father became the physician for a railroad that ran work all summer at whatever work was available, like
north into Yukon Territory in Canada. Growing up in some of the other boys I worked as a manual laborer
a small Alaskan town had a powerful impact in many on the docks and on the railroad. For me, as I well
w a y s - - I ' l l mention only several. For one thing, it knew, this condition was not permanent; but for some
left me with a deep and enduring love of mountains of the others, I knew it would be. I acquired sympa-
and the sea. Fly-fishing for trout in wilderness areas thy, which I have never wholly lost, for the often hard

I lk)und. Army.D. cross the continent by train--another three to four days Second. Working in gov. would present itself to me. A joint product of my inter. if quite indirectly. I wanted to engage in the far more al. some question with theoretical and small reconnaissance platoon in an infantry regiment. I will. and in Europe. m-ori- in September 1944 i arrived in Europe as leader of a ented. First. A piece of work might tains and ending up on Victory in Europe day in the lbllow. to teach and write. 1 would say that my work has been probh. I am fairly sure that I could not for the war effort. my respect for the qualities there at that time--before air travel--required a five. and We!fare. The Development of a Problem-Oriented Style ten with Charles E. wanted out of my life. perhaps. It resurfaced as a central inter. "democratic theory" hardly existed when I began writ- In the winter of 1943 1 entered the U. By the end of 1945. ing.. I learned a great deal about the have been as happy or productive in any other career.'" Even the term not at all to my liking. I was assigned first in Paris Versailles. and was the book I wrote with the assistance of Edward R. two here. dissertation) before the war crowded out such possibility that had been dramatically demonstrated possibilities. None of this was a hardship: 1 thought of it an incentive for thinking more deeply about what I rather as an adventure and an opportunity to see some. The career I ably was. Lindblom. though I lear these are too often insuffi- until June. and I find the My military experience had profound and lasting question still nags me. Then to gain my Ph. to get be able to gain in combat. But soon after my return to the United during Franklin D. Economics. well. were among the best ernment bureaus engaged in economic mobilization decisions 1 ever made.a t which 1 tributed to my lifelong interest in the problem of scale believe they were only partly successful. empirical relevance and often of moral importance as After a fall and winter fighting in the Vosges Moun. the New Deal period was became permanent.me Yale has been a marvelous place at which in a democratic system. a Ph. from my point of view I had already done my share in est in scale and in the smaller European democracies the war. of "'ordinary" human beings was deepened even fur- day trip of a thousand miles by boat and meant that I ther. mulaiion of the problem or question.D. men might only because it was closer than any other. in Politics. I know that my American sector of Germany. I do not think it is an turn home by the end of 1945. during which I might reshape the initial for- Austrian Alps. I sup- writings on economic democracy and the problem of pose. Size and Democracy. thanks to my combat experience I was allowed to re- Tufte. which in due time minted Ph. JUSTIFYING DEMOCRACY / 387 and limiting lives of working people.D. Nazifying the German banking s y s t e m . I now discovered that what I thing of North America. effects on my outlook. in social and political life. however. most fully. Later I was to draw heavily. In this spirit I want to say that 1 never set had so eagerly looked forward to at Yale was. I had been away trom aca- At Yale my aim was not to become a scholar. It was assumed. and ing. alas. growing up in small towns must have con. Even so. coming to know my comrades with I attended the University of Washington in Seattle the intimacy and solidarity that. however. mention only pretative theme in Democracy and Its Critics. Roosevell's New Deal. my military experience provided me with of travel. remaining at Yale to pursue them. The unit to which ! was experiences. out to become a "democratic theorist. Some of my actually--and then in Frankfurt to a unit at Supreme books--Who Governs ?: DelllOCl'aCv alld PoweF ill an Headquarters in charge of the Allied occupation of the American Cio'. By the States I sought oul my earlier mentors at Yale.S. A problem. who time l arrived in Washington in 1940 with my newly offered me a temporary post at Yale.. However.D. including some of its most truly yearned for was a career of scholarship and teach- spectacularly beautiful parts. in government would be of some worker ownership and control originated in those utility during the occupation. I believe that ordinary people have extraordinary had to leave home in early September and not return capacities. I shall try to resist the impulse to make my intellec- I also learned to my surprise and dismay that ! did tual and political evolution more coherent than it prob- not particularly enjoy being a bureaucrat. that my Ph. and soon in the Pacific. possibilities and limits of central economic planning and Ik)l. over and Washington was now focusing on the war Choosing a life of scholarship and teaching. article in 1940 (drawn directly from a chapter in my luring task of changing American public policies. On demic life fl~r five years and I had published only one the contrary. at Yale l had to ciently developed. assigned was mainly preoccupied with the task of de- Finally. for example--quite literally begin with . adequate examination of the subject. 1 had a wife and two children at home. on these experiences. writ.

Con. succinct.D. I do not regard intellec. duced the term " p o l y a r c h y ' . as Lindblom and 1 saw it. compact. revise A Pre/~tce is that it seems to me wonderfully tual consistency over a long life as necessarily a vir. other work. clear--I would like to say elegant tue. where I first used An Eclecticism of Style the term in a publication. that we intro. I think. Indeed. quan- able to construct a theoretical framework that seemed titative. The specific solution I proposed became my or set aside. But I had necessarily in the same work.. Historical. (5) 1 concluded century divorce of neoclassical economics and politi. an important ques. Politics. almost surely not be an improvement. Congress and Foreign Policy (1950). (4) I was charmed by the associational and co- though I probably would not have put it that way in operative systems portrayed by some of the utopian 1950. their so- modern "political economy. In democratic theory everything A Pr@tce to Economic Democ~z~c3' contains my later is in some way connected with everything else. Some readers of my work may not fully appreciate pleted Ph. theorist" before I felt comfortable with that term. At and Who Governs? as somehow at odds with my other that time I had no intention of trying to work out a work. Later I came to feel tion that would later challenge me to undertake an. Scholars who specialized on politics were ists often were admirably committed to political de- (and too often still are) woefully ignorant of economic mocracy. linguistic. And so it went. and neoclassical economists were (and too to state-ownership of industry and their ignorance of many still are) ignorant about and disdainful of politi. (2) I con- lem in the first chapter. and Welfare was a response socialists. Here the attractions for me of small-scale to the need. from one problem or Although 1 have searched for a feasible alternative-- question to another. I do formulation--I am now inclined to believe that there not know when I began to see that almost everything I may be no single satisfactory solution but perhaps an did was in some respects a problem in "democratic array of possibilities suitable in specific situations in theory. (3) I rejected Leninism and the gress dealt with and should deal with foreign policy. to re-create a communities show up again. they were fatally mistaken in their attraction theory. A later version of an earlier Having said all this. and empirical aspects of democracy.388 / SOCIETY 9 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1998 a question.a n existing but rarely (6) Thanks largely to the writings of Oscar Lange. One reason 1 have never wanted to of my readers evidently do. moral-ethical. it was to take me many years before I was the question. I have never veloped in my dissertation. used term in English--and formulated an early ver. at times I feel almost embarrassed when I in its simplicity! A revision that would mar that would consider how many of the major themes and orienta. as an ethical theory. but it would consistency in my work. thing I have ever written. It was in that book. What is best depends on be sure. sometimes explicitly. R Lerner. the problem. To inherently superior to others. lutions seemed to me. but I think that is true of every- be a preface." cratic. by the way. and institutional to me to provide satisfactorily tbr the historical. at best. and in all of them. A." Others may have labeled me a "democratic different countries. cluded that Marxism was unsatisfactory as an eco- My first book. tions in my later work were already present in my com. means of allocating resources and setting economy. the book might the same way today. see A Preface to Democratic Theory not adequately dealt with in existing treatments. that the details of that solution were unsatisfactory. I state the prob. idea of the vanguard party as fundamentally antidemo- That book was really a venture in "democratic theory. Economics. and disdain for the central importance of markets as a cal life. Unfortunately. an exploration of certain problems I felt were friendly critics. though not mative. methods and approaches all have a place. was quite explicitly only a I find it both fascinating and puzzling that even some prefitce. (1) I first worked out some felt that any particular methodology or approach is explicit criteria for a democratic political system. nomic and political theory and completely inadequate focused critically on the problem of how the U. I must also add that I see more work would not necessarily be better. utopian. in 1940. first published article.S. cratic political system would be a form of market-so- It often happened that in one work I would ignore cialism. gies or a different mix of methodologies. already begun that task in my dissertation. nor. Even A Preface to Democratic Theoo. and several other economists. Methodologically speak- . behavioral." after the late-nineteenth. I decided that sion of what was later to become a more elaborate the only solution for a socialist economy in a demo- theory of polyarchy. dissertation! that different problems require different methodolo- Let me mention some of the themes that 1 first de. than some surely be different. I do not. Obviously I would not write those books comprehensive theory to which. well. that although social democrats and democratic social- cal science.. taken as a whole.

governed by authoritarian rulers. So one challenge laced by those of us lutionary transformation of both human beings and the who believe in democratic ends is to discover ways of basic structures of their society. mately nonsensical. century-and-a-half. Take moral autonomy and responsibility. large-scale. aim and outcome of that war had been to keep the democratic regime. democratization. although in fact they and its possibilities has always been different from rarely do. and simply foolish. changes and on the other highly skeptical about tem that can fully meet this test. and I do not say that violence is make our own political life in democratic countries never necessary or never. made in consultation with the other persons involved It is certainly true. even though in practice proposals lot sudden. possibilities. It was a myth constructed initially tary and police by freely elected officials. neoconservatives. hopeful about the possibilities of achieving desirable lective decisions. unsuitable for the people of some particular country. to my amusement I was actually described tries have never successfully established democracy to in one newspaper as an anarchist! Some readers who the conclusion that "'Western" democracy is culturally expect that my map ought to fit with theirs are disap. liberals. regime by arguing from the obvious fact that some coun- mocracy. Consider the Ameri- more exemplary. to develop a democratic culture strong enough to sustain democracy. conservatives. I think any human being is a better per- son for having the opportunity and ability to reflect The Development of Democracy on the relative worth. even impossible in the short term. in some parts produce the failures that inevitably followed such a of the world democratization may simply not be at. desirability. in particular--are best American characteristics and limitations o l m y thought. does not necessarily seem so to me: authoritarian regimes ik~r generations it may be diffi- we are just operating with different cognitive maps. If that is an "American" perspec- In practice. tural transformations. destructive. to be achieved if need improving the performance of actual democracies. for example. however. out of a distorted interpretation of the French Revolu- a m p l e . mocracy. profound misunderstanding of human limits and tainable. The Pursuit of Democratization But it is quite another. under an authoritarian regime. they the standard ideological maps. Indeed. was surely one of the most mislead- addition. a they are to be governed unless they have the opportuni- methodology should never dictate the choice of ties. their choice of a political system is southern states from seceding and thereby dividing the . or goodness of the Because all of us are to some extent blinded by our choices he or she confronts and then acting responsi. own cultural assumptions. perhaps. The possibility and desirability of an abrupt revo- tify democracy. the conditions necessary for the existence of ing. comprehensive struc- it often fails to. or at any rate we on the outside may be un. 1 do not think there is Intellectuals played no minor role in helping to a general answer to this question. 1 be. cult.iustified. I am deliberately and shamelessly eclectic. attempts to justify an authoritarian or pseudodemocratic liberals. For people cannot truly choose how gate should dictate the choice of methodology. If the only the people of a country choose to be governed by a non. except. whether drawn by the can no longer easily reverse it. though. JUSTIFYING DEMOCRACY / 389 ing. to I am not a pacifist. But once they have made that choice. that 1 am on the one hand and in accordance with just principles for making col. What to them is inconsis. After a lecture in Denmark on economic de. privileges. I doubt whether it would be bly to bring about what is best. not they have in any meaningful sense chosen to remain parochial. as valid as any other. or neo. able to do anything to promote it. is one thing to say that for people who have lived under tency. tion and augmented after 1917 by a fundamental mis- Thus another and different challenge is to encourage interpretation of the meaning of the Bolshevik the development of conditions that would facilitate Revohltion. In be by violence. I am very skeptical of left. and institutions provided by de- question. so be it. its limits. But this is paradoxical and ulti- lieve strongly that the question one wants to investi. considerably short of the criteria and values that jus. democratic systems have always fallen tive. Democracy is the only political sys. to say thal The values that justify democracy are human. rights. People in a democracy can choose to be 1 also think that my map of the world. for ex. Unfortunately.a r e simply lacking in many parts of the world. It pointed when it does not. can Civil War--perhaps more costly in human lives Moral and political relativists may contend that if than any preceding war in modern times. Some important profitable tbr me to try to identify the more specifically choices--collective choices. and self-defeating myths of the past a democratic political system--the control over mili.

I was also intrigued by the Sweden in 1930. later years be caused by extensive inner-city poverty. found Thomas Hobbes's treatment extraordinarily im- Yet one should always be pessimistic about how pressive. important structural authority. In the welfare state result in some reductions in services. Compare out any further refinement. Nelson Polsby. and decency. social relations. and the political con. and the number satisfactory standard of liberty. these complexities were trivial." ig- flicts necessary to achieve them can be impassioned. political scientists. the subsidies available course elsewhere--the values and goals I advocate and for cities from the federal government were plenti- that I hope will prevail will always be strongly con. Under these as best they can. R a y m o n d I see no reason for believing that the process of so. If I were writing the cioeconomic change. and what On Limits and Opportunities I failed to take sufficiently into account. and New Haven's astute political leaders were able to essarily predominate.a t least for some purposes. struc. perhaps I should add what economic and political structures beyond its control. I do not be. When I returned to Yale I began the research on fully transformed by democratic means into a far more New Haven that was to eventuate in Who Governs?. First. and categories for distinguishing and describing power. candidates at Yale. seems to me obvious: In democratic countries--as of When I studied New Haven. book today. white population has diminished. and political arrangements that achieve a lation is approaching half of the total. Second. I justify the American Civil War. the city itself has changed: The nondemocratic country--has created a set of social. The American Civil War ended slavery. will than they were in 1950. however. I have no great confidence that they will nec. the increments are nating way in which most social scientists. I lence. employed the term "power. for has ended. se. to the limits on what a city can achieve because of Lest I be misunderstood. and influence. was to over- My interest in the possibilities of a more system. and William Flanigan. democracy. The visible gap between what is poverty are incomparably more severe and daunting and what ought to be. justice. It was as if physicists ing changes in attitudes. but it learned a great deal from my colleague Harold did not free the ex-slaves from generations of oppres. lations. that the politics. it was perfectly clear that power is a central con- lieve the northern prosecution of the Civil War would cept and phenomenon in nearly all aspects of life-- have been justified. Yet the in New Haven. Nor will other Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo democratic countries. Wolfinger. Lasswell's attempts to formulate precise definitions sion. Alto trying to clarify the dimensions of the concept It is true that incremental changes in democratic and thinking out how one might actually study it em- countries have not replaced certain deeply embedded pirically. f u l . like redevelopment-- tested. conditions. and economics. No democratic country--and certainly no several reasons. Even poverty of systematic empirical studies that were con- if present discontent with the economic burdens of ceptually and methodologically sophisticated. he envisioned. say. that before leaving I had al- social and economic structures. market capitalism that Marx knew has been peace. I am more sensitive continue to drive the search for alternative solutions. The problems of race and curity. too. I profited greatly from Max Weber's formu- much change for the good is likely to result from vio. come the deep and persistent problems that would in atic analysis of power no doubt had several sources. and relations can be enormous. which I thought were a major breakthrough. Skilled and unskilled work- if those who believe in these goals fail to support them ers could still find jobs in local industries. What local leaders could not do.D. but they will certainly succumb gain more than their share. 1955-56 I spent much of my year at the Center for Sweden will never return to 1930. with the Sweden of 1980. abolition of slavery in the United States did finally systematic treatments were rare and incomplete. humane and decent economic order than perhaps even in which I was greatly helped by three young Ph. Market capitalism has ready decided to try to do an empirical study of power not been abolished in any democratic country. I believe. . of cultural change. changes can be and have been achieved by peaceful Yet I was dismayed by the casual and undiscrimi- incremental changes. were to go on discussing "forces" and "matter" with- tures. tempered by what could be. In democratic countries. nor. noring the complexities of the concept as if somehow But over time--decades or generations--the result. the nonwhite popu- economic. it would be very different. and harsh discrimination. I do believe. First. certainly. wretchedness. practices. behaviors. creative political leadership could make a difference. To be sure. Second. of poor people is far greater. however.390 / S O C I E T Y 9 J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 1998 United States into two separate countries. including sometimes pretty substantial.

seen in ultimately collapsed. information. cal parties as relatively cohesive electoral organiza- ful. does loster conflict between global interests and constituency in- inequalities. Sweden. of the many reasons for this is the nature of the Ameri- cial disintegration. Congress. And as 1 have already said. The parties do remain surprisingly cohesive (by American. One federal funds. ethnic. privately-owned market coalition for change is difficult. and political inequality. and authority. geographic. coalition that Franklin Roosevelt put together in the Though I think Who Gover. what I portrayed would be too am convinced that the global economy makes it more optimistic today. l now ideology and other elements that run counter to it. go without creating economic consequences that vot. and increased so. From domestic factors into account. say. Too much now depends on the presi- to reduce social. gress to adopt a comprehensive system of national skills. not The Inevitability of Inequality European standards) as legislative parties within Con- I think both the economic system and the struc. in the United States we have American colleagues of our presidential-congressional done much less to reduce inequalities like those ! men. dent. and it portrayal of the politics of the city at the time. Among the countries in which democratic in- by government policies supported by effective po. health care. I hope. the growth of crime. Although theory and evidence are inconclusive. a book I expect to be of unusual can no longer make economic policy by taking only originality. the state. In any case. and lition-building extremely difficult. democratic systems to the problem of the potential tems. It seems to me to have few comparative ad- . or her own organization and financing. In think more than I once did about how all life is given addition. if you like--that it will from President Bill Clinton's effort to induce Con- generate inequalities: in incomes. I only mean that it. influence. which makes it easier for inter- I have sometimes thought that if I were to under. can political system. his book will probe the shall be able to do so again. The difficulties I have already mentioned in form- Whether political leadership in the city. problem of poverty in New Haven and other compa- rable cities far more deeply than ! did or than anyone Political Systems else has to my knowledge. Norway. each with his us for many years to come. The Scandinavian countries have car. Perhaps my interest in that matter has conflict between the egalitarian element of American to do with the process of aging. both in substance and methodology.S. Incidentally. I rable cities elsewhere. system. status. I do not I am not sure that the American political system mean that the dynamics of a modern market economy provides a better solution than do some European make it more inegalitarian than other historical sys. building a stable It is inherent in a modern. world is as influential as the U. the shrinking of tioned than. presidential system is unique. we Haven as it is today. the American litical forces. stitutions have existed intact since 1950. publish a book about New Even in a country as large as the United States. est groups to interpose a veto on policies than for take a study like Who Governs? today. racial. like the others. s? was largely a valid middle of the Great Depression was a rarity. however. ing effective coalitions for change have been greatly and the nation will respond to the fairly modest and increased by the disintegration of American politi- realistic proposals he will make is. tions. JUSTIFYING DEMOCRACY / 391 the decline of manufacturing jobs. In the next year or so. Despite a very strong strain of social egalitarian. and thus in power. The New Deal the way those opportunities are seized or lost. Douglas Rae will. and ideological--make coa- by the opportunities available within those limits. I am inclined to be much more critical than my ism in American culture. economic. These can be mitigated to some extent terests. because probably no other national legislature in the ers will find intolerable. But Congress is at the limits of its capacities ture and operation of American politics inhibit efforts for coordination. Another reason is the opportunities. wealth. gress. Consequently I fear the acute problems of inner. I would want political leaders to form and maintain a coalition ca- to say much more about the question of limits and pable of introducing changes. the perspective of today's New Haven and of compa. as is all too clear economy--market capitalism. doubt. I doubt whether we ever what I have already seen of it. and access to communications. the size and heterogeneity of the country-- structure and meaning by its limits and opportunities. my colleague difficult to devise and enact redistributive policies. and Denmark. one might ried these efforts about as far as it may be possible to better call it the presidential-congressional system. The parties have disintegrated into associations city poverty and social disintegration will remain with of individual political entrepreneurs.

J. will be even less so. 1961. he has written many other works.392 / S O C I E T Y 9 J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 1998 vantages and some important disadvantages. our presidential-congressional system is Economics. Dahl. working very well. The Eu. particularly in Latin America. New Haven. in- answer to that dilemma. and We!fitre. 1985. Size and Democracy. ropean parliament in Strasbourg will never be as Stanford. If I were a Norwegian. Who Governs? Democra~ T and Power in system may make it more effective in dealing with an American City. Robert A.: Stanford University Press. ever. I do not have an overarching the Jitrther readings. less accessible. outside the United States. Dahl and Charles E.: not. an inevitable Conn. or even of the Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California United Kingdom. New Brunswick. eluding Dilemmas of Pluralist Democracy aml Democracy. In the United Robert A. Dahl and Edward R.: Yale University Press.: Yale problems of importance to citizens--defense. perhaps in some cases even contributing to breakdowns in democratic government. democratically responsive and responsible as the na. Conn. Lindblom. N. for example--the larger Robert A. In addition to the titles listed in of that larger system. A Pr<filce to Democratic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Dahl is Sterliltg Professor of Political Sci- tiveness of citizens as participants in the political life ence at Yale University. 1956. New Haven. In any case. Dahl. colleague Juan Linz and his collaborators show in their to decide that question. and less participatory. in my view. Dahl. it is up to the Norwegians. A Prt+~tce to Economic Democracy. countries to the problem. and the effec- Robert A. zens. political system will also be more remote from citi. States itself. 1989. Polvarehv: ParticipatioH and Opposition. 1973. Tuft. Robert A. tional parliament of.l'iliation: Yale UnivetwiO'] . then. The Faihtre o f Presidential De- mocracy. say. 1993 (originally published in 1953). I would be strongly tempted to vote against entry Liberty and EquaLity. Calif.: Yale University Press. envi. Dahl. ronmental issues. There is. University Press. 1971. Although enlarging the boundaries of a political Robert A. into the European Union on precisely that ground. not me. trade-off between the greater effectiveness gained for the political system by enlarging it. Denmark. New Haven. And the bureaucracies in Brussels Press. important new book. Conn. Democracy and Its Critics. I do Transaction Publishers. [Cltrrent q/. As my Luckily for me. Politics. not see that we have a better solution than do other Robert A. Robert A. how. Dahl. and trade. the presidential system has worked SUGGESTED FURTHER READING badly.