Analysis of the Majoritarian and Pluralist Models of Democracy in the United Sates

Introduction

Majoritarian and Pluralist democracy are the two models of democracy which differs in their assumptions. In the United States, it is observed that that public opinion and interest groups play role in the government. Besides it, the pluralist model states that the government should be obliged to consider the opinions of interest groups while according to the majoritarian model, the government should aim to do what the majority of the public wants, but my opinion is that it is a the both of the democracies have their own importance and it depends on the policies of the government which ultimately determine the type of democracy.

Discussion

Majoritarian Democracy

Far from being a panacea for United States unity and development, majoritarian democracy encourages ethnic, religious and regional conflicts as politics and conflicts take place. Unless the politicians and lawmakers take drastic consociation measures to mitigate identity politics, citizenship, regionalism, and religious differences, the path of democracy will mean the path of division, conflicts, and anarchy, for instance in the United States.

Concentration of executive power in one party and bare majority: The ruling cabinet consists of a one-party majority and excludes minority parties.

Majoritarian and disproportional system of elections: The election system functions according to the single-member-district plurality, or a first-past-the-post system.

Cabinet dominance: The cabinet, composed of leaders of a cohesive majority party, can be confident of passing legislation.

Two-party system: Government is dominated by two large parties.

Interest group pluralism: Competition and conflict characterize the interest group system.

Parliament can freely change laws by regular majorities and not by supermajorities in the United States due to the flexibility in the constitution.

Unitary and centralized government: Local governments are part of the central government, their powers are not constitutionally guaranteed, and they are financially dependent on the central government.

Concentration ...