Editing State (polity) (section)

===Pluralism===
{{See also|Polyarchy}}
[[Pluralism (political theory)|Pluralists]] view society as a collection of individuals and groups, who are competing for political power. They then view the state as a neutral body that simply enacts the will of whichever groups dominate the electoral process.<ref>Vincent, 1992: [https://books.google.com/books?id=_MdR_fvPxZoC&pg=PA47 pp. 47–48] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430132703/https://books.google.com/books?id=_MdR_fvPxZoC&pg=PA47 |date=30 April 2016 }}</ref> Within the pluralist tradition, [[Robert Dahl]] developed the theory of the state as a neutral arena for contending interests or its agencies as simply another set of [[interest group]]s. With power competitively arranged in society, state policy is a product of recurrent bargaining. Although pluralism recognizes the existence of inequality, it asserts that all groups have an opportunity to pressure the state. The pluralist approach suggests that the modern democratic state's actions are the result of pressures applied by a variety of organized interests. Dahl called this kind of state a [[polyarchy]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Dahl, Robert |title=Modern Political Analysis |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1973 |isbn=0-13-596981-6 |page={{Page needed |date=January 2011}}}}</ref>

Pluralism has been challenged on the ground that it is not supported by empirical evidence. Citing surveys showing that the large majority of people in high leadership positions are members of the wealthy upper class, critics of pluralism claim that the state serves the interests of the upper class rather than equitably serving the interests of all social groups.<ref>{{cite book |author=Cunningham, Frank |title=Theories of democracy: a critical introduction |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-415-22879-4 |pages=86–87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOBubkTG9JMC&pg=PA86|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512120545/https://books.google.com/books?id=cOBubkTG9JMC&pg=PA86 |archive-date=12 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Diversity in the power elite: how it happened, why it matters |edition=2nd |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7425-3699-9 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0V0gO8tArK8C&pg=PA4 |author1=Zweigenhaft, Richard L. |author2=Domhoff, G. William |name-list-style=amp|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430085807/https://books.google.com/books?id=0V0gO8tArK8C&pg=PA4 |archive-date=30 April 2016}}</ref>