Original scientific paper
PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: R. A. DAHL’S DEMOCRATIC THEORY
Slaven Ravlić
; Lexicographical Institute "Miroslav Krleža", Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The essay reconstructs Robert A. Dahl’s democratic theory as a combination of empirical research of democratic regimes and the theoretical reinterpretation of democratic tradition. The elements of this theory are analysed, the continuity and the phases in the evolution of Dahl’s concept of democracy are highlighted (pluralist theory, neo-pluralist approach, and the theory of democratic pluralism). The author concludes that a sort of dualism in Dahl’s theory of democracy is not only a consequence of his methodical approach, but also of the tension among the central tenets of liberal democracy, which Dahl critically elucidated and tried to reconcile.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
27486
URI
Publication date:
23.5.2000.
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