Reconstructing Political Pluralism

Download or read book Reconstructing Political Pluralism written by Avigail I. Eisenberg and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1995-08-17 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This reappraisal of the pluralist tradition systematically explores accounts of political pluralism offered by James, Dewey, Figgis, Cole, Laski, Follett, and Dahl and shows how each variant contains a distinct account of the relation between group power, individual interest, and self-development. These historical accounts provide the resources with which Eisenberg reconstructs a democratic theory of political pluralism. At the center of political pluralism, she argues, is a pluralist approach to self-development that can address the key ambiguities of identity politics and provide a more effective means to balance the power relations between individuals and communities than can individualist or communitarian approaches.