Neo-Pluralist Paradigm

Question 1

What was the prelude to the 1960s societal turmoil?

Answer 1

The end of ideology after a turbulent period
“Politics is now boring.(…) the fundamental political problems of the industrial revolution” no longer give rise to ideological disputes. (…) This very triumph of the democratic social revolution in the West ends domestic politics those intellectuals who must have ideologies
or utopias “

Question 2

What were the blessings of the 1960s?

Answer 2

Mass consumption
Democratisation of luxury
New lifestyles

Question 3

What did New Social Movements base themselves?

Answer 3

Civil Rights
Women’s Rights
Anti-War
Third World
Environmental issues

Question 4

What did the New Social Movements combine?

Answer 4

substantive concerns on ‘their’ issue rooted in systemic analysis of issue area and society more generally.
Urge for democratisation; unconventional politics
Product of societal modernisation

Question 5

What did the environmental movements do?

Answer 5

On specific issues, systemic background, challenging democratic system

Question 6

What is the Denmark Wind Energy Movement

Answer 6

It was a movement which emerged in the 1950s about a renewable alternative to fossil fuel imports
Around 1960 it allied up with the democratisation movement so wind energy became something of systemic change. This was because it was decentral, community run social movement based on renewable sources which means independence from energy industry and government
It got further momentum during the debate on nuclear energy which is diagonally opposite to wind

Question 7

What was the over-fertilisation problem in the Netherlands?

Answer 7

In 1968 there was a Man-Woman-Society Movement which revolved around more societal participation of women considering the current revolving of society around traditional family which yields gender inequality
In the mid 1970s there was this issue of eutrophication of surface waters which was leading to algae growth. It was thought to be related to use of detergents and therefore led to an attack on women as this was part of their traditional role. This led to about 200 women groups starting a movement because it wasn’t their fault for using the detergent, it was industry for making it non-environmentally friendly and they did not want to be forced by industry to pollute. It led to an investigation and they started making better detergents but in the end it was actually manure as the problem
This is why in 1981 manure was put on the political agenda as a problem

Question 8

What is the Frankfurt School?

Answer 8

It’s key sources of theoretical inspiration were Marx, Weber, Freud etc (the greats in sociology) and key figures were Horkheimer, Marcuse, Adorno, Habermas

Question 9

What were the key points of departure of the Frankfurt School?

Answer 9

Idea of critical theory
Link social critique with historicising social scientific analysis
Engaged, practical philosophy, contra value-free science
Generic social theory, beyond disciplinary fragmentation
Said that the 1950s was an end of repressive social order rather than the end of ideology or political harmony

Question 10

What did Marcuse say about mass consumption society?

Answer 10

That the idea of capitalism and the production of things like the TV, the fridge, the car led to the alienation of workers from the products of their own labour and replaced it with consumerism. Idea of worship of technologies. This created a false consciousness and false needs
This therefore undermined the needed counterforces in the political system political passivity, adaptation of self to the system
Idea of Repressive Tolerance in 1965 where the tolerating as ‘freedom of speech’ views that are oppressive or ‘objectively false’
This is the idea of ‘tyranny of the majority’ which justifies undemocratic means

Question 11

Who is Habermas?

Answer 11

A German philosopher and sociologist
His core interest was truth as consensus achieved through rational debate

Question 12

What was Habermas’ key distinction?

Answer 12

Between the lifeworld and system world
The lifeworld is the social sphere which comprises our interactions with family and society at large. It focusses on communicative rationality which is a conversation where people sincerely question each other and scrutinise own arguments and assumptions
The system world is the professional sphere in which we world and or interact with institutional authority: economy, bureaucracy. It emphasises instrumental rationality about ends-means relations, efficiency etc.

Question 13

What is the public sphere?

Answer 13

It is the places where people can discuss matters of mutual concern as peers, and learn about facts, events, and the opinions, interests, and perspectives of others in an atmosphere free of coercion and of inequalities that would incline individuals to acquiesce or be silent. This involvement develops individual autonomy; is a learning process; and creates a politically relevant public opinion.
Thus it is a place for emancipation as well as inclusive reflexive discussion of collective issues and social change

Eckersley - Such mechanisms are not only ends in themselves but also means to enhance the reflexive learning potential of both the state and civil society and the economy: ideally lifeworld rationality shapes system world ‘behind our backs’

Question 14

How did the public sphere evolve according to Habermas?

Answer 14

C18 bourgeois society was the optimal public sphere because of free space for rational discussion independent and separate from polity
But because of Gemeinschaft shifting to Gesellschaft and capitalist structure to competition and self interest and mass media, the lifeworld became colonised by the system world. This meant the lifeworld in terms of leisure, family life, sexual relations, have all become targets of commodification
The system world became decoupled from lifeworld. Its discourses are ‘indifferent to the dynamics of cultural reproduction, social integration and socialisation necessary for the development and reproduction of lifeworlds’

Question 15

Therefore, how did the public sphere transform?

Answer 15

The system world discourses came to ‘seem to the individual to be natural and common sense; indifferent to the individual; beyond her/his control; and not subject to communicative action’
Therefore needed a public sphere which again offers conditions for herrschaftfreie Kommunikation.
Key asset of civil society with grassroots initiatives, movements etc. that may awaken ‘the ‘sleeping gallery’ or ‘the public sphere at rest’… in ways that carry the potential to ‘shift the entire system’s mode of problem solving’

Question 16

What did Easton’s model of a stable democratic system show?

Answer 16

Changing demands and support from different groups led to continuous dynamics
Outcome yield support, support generates stable democracy.
Process maintains support for the rules of the game
Model o f research into political systems

Question 17

In this period, what was the wake up call for political scientists?

Answer 17

Unconventional politics demonstrated that the political system was not equally open to all demands and therefore could end up under attack
Academic reflections on these events like from the Frankfurt School. Whose consensus? from where? what for? Science must not be value-free but rather engaged, critical historicist, practically relevant

The responses were reformed pluralism (tried to save pluralism) and neo-pluralism (reviewing pluralist theory, taking these experiences and ideas into account)

Question 18

What do Richardson and Jordan say about Reformed Pluralism?

Answer 18

That is recognises the differences in interest between groups.
They conceptualise this through policy community: social groups with routinised relations with government; cooptive and consensual style e.g. UK and NL agricultural iron triangle
vs issue network - large number of participants with quite variable degrees of dependence on others; open, fluid and dynamic style

Question 19

What does Smith say about Richardson and Jordan’s perspective of Reformed Pluralism?

Answer 19

That they pledge to restore conditions for pluralism
That they acknowledge countervailing power of policy community and adaptability of networks but these undermine their proposed solutions

Question 20

What is Easton’s Neo-pluralist prophet?

Answer 20

Idea of the new revolution in political science
- Fear of the nuclear bomb, mounting internal cleavages in the US in which civil war and authoritarian rule have become possibilities’
- the post-behavioural revolution after the last revolution which was behaviouralism
- Behavioural science conceals an ideology of empirical conservatism. To confine oneself description and analysis of facts is to hamper the understanding of these same facts in their broadest context
- as a discipline we have proved incapable of escaping a commitment to our own political system - post-behaviouralists are alerting us… that all research, of necessity rests on certain value assumptions
- Creed of relevance

Question 21

What is neo-pluralism then?

Answer 21

It is a reviewed version of pluralism which like classical pluralism considers the struggle between interest groups as the essence of politics, but unlike classical pluralism acknowledges that this struggle takes place on structurally uneven territory particular interests are privileged above others.
State is not just a neutral arbiter
Consensus and rules of the game must be critically scrutinised
Unequal access to economic sources of power

Question 22

What do Bachrach and Baratz say about the neo-pluralist view on power?

Answer 22

Elitists ask who is in charge, pluralists ask who manages to exercise power over who and with what outcome?
So canonical pluralism with due account of elites model has the key question of who is or are taking the decisions - the observable face of power
Neo-pluralists in addition, recognise the hidden face of power which is non-decision power.
Consensus is the dominant values, ideas, rules of the game led to particular interests and demands are ‘organised out’ of the political system
In society cultural socialisation and en intended exclusion of some groups may not articulate their issues - Habermas: distorted communication

Question 23

Famous quote from Schattschneider

Answer 23

the flaw in the pluralist heaven in that the heavenly chorus sings with strong upper-class accent

Question 24

How do neo-pluralists investigate power?

Answer 24

Investigating the particular ‘mobilisation of bias’ in the institution under scrutiny i.e. the dominant values, the myths and the established political procedures and rules of the game
Investigating which persons or groups, if any, gain from the existing bias and which, if any, are handicapped by it
Investigate the dynamics of non-decision making i.e. how much status quo oriented persons and groups influence those community values and those political institutions
Finally, using this knowledge as a foundation for analysis and as a standard for distinguishing between ‘key’ and ‘routine’ political decisions, investigate, in the same way as pluralists, analyse participation in decision making of concrete issues

Question 25

What does Lindblom say about neo-pluralism in terms of agenda setting and the state?

Answer 25

Business has extra resources,not in the economy by also in politics. The government needs the economy to be successful and has to give business inducements which means the business achieves 'a privileged position in government'. In a market system, many decisions are taken by business which are then removed from the political agenda Such structural power is implicitly granted by government to business i.e. unobservable power, business tries 'to indoctrinate citizens to overlook their privileged position' Therefore political agenda setting distorted in favour of particular issues and alternatives

Question 26

How does the wind energy movement in Denmark demonstrate this idea from Lindblom?

Answer 26

Juul's original wing energy movement was supported by electricity companies which monopolised access to government, maintaining centralised provision in place and then left it in state of disrepair and despair

Question 27

How does the fertilising issue in the Netherlands demonstrate this idea of Lindblom?

Answer 27

Initial expert concerns (MeGiSta working group) on manure problems passed to knowledge institute in policy community, dominated by agri-sector's rationality which carefully defused it: problem due to detergents rather than livestock. Minister supported de-politicisation - non-decision power due to iron triangle consensus

Question 28

What does Smith say about Lindblom?

Answer 28

That there are three open questions: - that it is unclear how businesses can exercise veto power - that how come so often specific business interests are not privileged? - that in 1960 the emergence of groups lead to the business power declining - how? The underlying problem was the groups were overemphasised, forms of organisation that link government and business under analysed

Question 29

What conclusions did this lead Smith too?

Answer 29

Agenda building theory - how to overcome barriers? Neo-pluralist theorising on the links state-society-market - what is a better democratic system? (Robyn Eckersley's efforts to maintain emphasis in plural civil society plus elaborating on links) And, for those who believed capitalism was part of problem: neo-marxist paradigm of relations state-market-society

Question 30

What do Cobb and Elder observe about agenda building on the agenda?

Answer 30

Influence and access is unevenly distributed in political system System limited scope for issues and options - bounded rationality of organisations, mobilisation of bias There can be systemic inertia And pre-political processes

Question 31

What do Cobb and Elder say about why agenda building must be theorised?

Answer 31

The existing pressure system is limited to 'legitimate' groups So their points of departure are that: - Answer to non-decision making and need for more participation - Engaged research/creed for relevance - Need for theorising the operation of pluralist policy making

Question 32

Therefore, what is Cobb and Elder's analytical orientation?

Answer 32

They believe it is necessary to have a different unit of analysis in terms of decision making and non-decision making and from the political system to the political system and society This means that there are two agenda's

Question 33

What are the two different agenda's?

Answer 33

The system agenda - set of controversial issues considered by society as legitimate and deserving a place on the institutional agenda The institutional agenda - set of specific terms which a particular policy unit has decided to consider and act upon

Question 34

According to Lindblom, what are barriers for things getting on the system agenda?

Answer 34

Status 'new' groups often lower due to unknown or less prestigious leaders Cultural factor co-determine issue legitimacy

Question 35

According to Lindblom, what are barriers for things getting on the institutional agenda?

Answer 35

The priority given to older items because of: - Differentiate responsiveness of decisionmakers - Relations groups - decision makers differ - Differences between groups re. potential and actual power - Some groups located more strategically in social-economic structure - Some groups have more status

Question 36

What do Cobb and Elder say we need to do to reduce the likelihood of barriers?

Answer 36

They say that in the system agenda desires and needs lead to barriers to demands. In the institutional agenda, barriers to political agenda status lead to barriers to decision making and then barriers to implementation Therefore we need issue expansion in terms of increasing awareness of the issue, redefining the issue and involving other groups

Question 37

How do we see the issue expansion in Denmark?

Answer 37

Through democratisation and anti-nuclear movement and the option for small-decentral and central electricity provision. This yielded government support in the knowledge institute, feed-in tariffs and other legislation

Question 38

How do we see issue expansion in the NL?

Answer 38

Eutrophication issue had been redefined by Minister as a matter of detergents. Women's groups got involved wanting a say on behaviour with potentially adverse consequences and participation desire Led to increasing support because industry demanded analysis and conclusion was manure! Issue redefinition, by 1984 more groups and iron triangle broken and novel access points through environmental ministry and EU

Question 39

What does Easton say about democratic models of neo-pluralism?

Answer 39

To enrich their own understanding and to give broader meaning to their own social reality, the great political theorists of the past found it useful to construct new and often radically different conceptions of future possible kinds of political relationships. (…) This, I would argue, must now be considered part of the task and responsibility of science if it is to retain its relevance for the contemporary world

Question 41

What does Habermas say about democratic models of neo-pluralism?

Answer 41

State must 'uphold the rights and procedures for democratic opinion and will formation' Democracy and basic rights constitute each other (contra liberal democracy: basic rights do not precede democracy, but the self is taken up in collective deliberation. contra republicanism: procedures for deliberation rather than assuming a common culture or value consensus) The lifeblood of the democratic polity is derived from, and continues to reside in, civil society and the public sphere which requires access to policy agenda Pragmatic compromises often necessary

Question 42

What does Eckersley say about Habermas?

Answer 42

“[Habermas’] account of the relationship between the state, civil society, and the public sphere… provides a fertile basis from which to reconstruct the green democratic state In particular, it highlights the centrality of the emerging green public sphere to the political project of greening the state.”

Question 43

What are Eckersley's three qualifications of Habermas' portrayal of these relationships between the state, civil society and public sphere?

Answer 43

this arrangement presupposes a rationalized lifeworld and a liberal political culture civil society’s power is limited by its wild, anarchic nature in complex, heterogeneous societies, effectiveness state instruments is limited

Question 44

Therefore what is the core question? And the sub-questions?

Answer 44

Given that the deliberative ideal has been shown to be more conducive to environmental justice and reflexive modernisation than liberal pluralistic bargaining, then how might this ideal be more closely approximated? Given that a flourishing public sphere is crucial for the success of the democratic state, then how might its radical potential be furthered? How might the democratic determination of legal norms more closely approximate moral and ethical rather than merely pragmatic modes of reasoning?

Question 45

How does Eckersley say we should realise the potential of the public sphere?

Answer 45

Less hold of political executive & vested interest groups on democratic will formation, while deepening and extending deliberative spaces Have emancipatory forces act upon and within state Design democratic procedures, checks, and balances that make true deliberation the easiest option Make citizens enjoy deliberative rights Expose biases in political system Ensure that powerful actors listen to social forces, avoid unconventional politics Adopt a de-centered perspective: green groups State must actively intervene to empower groups Adapt reified social relations, practices and understanding

Question 46

In terms of the City Makers Summit 2016, how do we realise the potential of the public sphere?

Answer 46

Less hold of political executive & vested interest groups; deepening and extending deliberative spaces Have emancipatory forces act upon and within state Design democratic procedures, checks, and balances that make true deliberation the easiest option Make citizens enjoy deliberative rights Expose biases in political system Ensure that powerful actors listen to social forces, avoid unconventional politics Adopt a de-centered perspective: green groups State must actively intervene to empower groups Adapt reified social relations, practices and understanding The Summit: a deliberative forum. Makers’ achievement enforced vested groups’ respect … in parallel and 250 meters from EU Council Bologna Charter discussed firms rather than alliances; participation rather than co-creation more self-consciouss: ‘we own the city’; ‘we have solutions’

Question 47

Therefore what new-questions are raised in this City-Makers Summit?

Answer 47

Debate on need to somehow have better inclusion of views of citizens outside city makers’ initiatives

Question 48

And what is the neo-pluralist rationale?

Answer 48

awaken “’the “sleeping gallery’ or ‘the public sphere at rest’ [Eckersley, p. 144] public sphere must be place for emancipation and inclusive, reflexive discussion of collective issues and social change [Habermas] Be aware of non-decision power through societal cultural socialisation & intended exclusion => some groups may not articulate their issues [Bachrach & Baratz] Different groups have different resources [Dahl & Lindblom]