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A Study On Dahl's Thought Of Political Equality

Posted on:2018-06-21Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y G ZhaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2346330542969508Subject:Political science
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Political equality thought is the basis of Robert Dahl's pluralist democracy theory.Dahl expounds a lot of political equality but he had never clearly defined nor made a systematic exposition,thus,his political equality thought is complex and difficult to grasp.At the same time,as one of the most important democratic theorists in the contemporary times,there are a lot of researches on Dahl's theory of pluralist democracy,but the legitimate basis of democracy—political equality—has not been taken seriously enough.Therefore,it is significant to study his thought of political equality to understand his whole theoretical system.Dahl's thought of political equality can be divided into two periods,in the early period,he believe diffuse political inequality can guarantee democracy;in the mature period,he sublated the early thought and advocated a kind of equality of influence on the basis of fair procedure with the equality of political rights,resources and abilities outside the procedure.The Legitimacy of political equality comes from two principles:inner equality and individual autonomy.These two principles can be proved from the inner emotion,history,religion and the principle of prudence.The best decision-making procedure to achieve influence equality is the ideal democratic process which is not purely equality of procedure but added citizenship equality,equal rights and other conditions.The core condition of political equality is the equality of political resources;citizens should achieve equal political resources and the ability to use them.On the relationship between freedom and equality,Dahl pointed out that political equality promotes rather than damages freedom.In reality,political equality faces many obstacles,mainly including four aspects:political resources inequality,political capacity inequality,political scale and the inevitable crisis.In order to promote the political equality,Dahl proposed many solutions,including economic democracy,changing citizen's orientation,micro mass organization,and also referred to the measures of setting the bottom of education and the top of political donations.However,in a pluralistic society,Dahl's model of multiple competition may lead to inequality to the sustained minority;the feasibility of economic democracy and the realizability of changing citizen's orientation has been questioned,but his thought is important stimulation for promoting political equality.
Keywords/Search Tags:Dahl, political equality, pluralistic democracy, equality of political influence
PDF Full Text Request
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