Aristotle, in his classical work - The Politics - defined three methods of power within the state: Monarchy - the rule of one person, Aristocracy - the rule of few people and Democracy - the rule of many. For many years political theorists accepted this Aristotelian view of power. In modern times, however, political theorist find this description insufficient and they are trying to define political power according to different.
This essay tries to look into some of the central political theories to pick up some of the main themes made by those theorists and thus, achieve two things: one would be to draw conclusions from these main points as to who exercises power in the contemporary world according to each theory; the second would be to draw a conclusion, based on the different theories discussed in the essay, as to who exercises power in contemporary world.
Pluralism.
The pluralists believe that the in democratic political system everybody is represented in the political process. The main idea of the pluralism is that through the system of having two or more parties, with the influence of interest groups in society (whether through lobbying or through public opinion), everyone get their say, whether they actively participate in the political process, or not. The pluralists" belief is that the fact that some people don't participate in the political process doesn't mean that their ideologies aren't represented. By having someone who holds the same ideologies who is willing to fight for his beliefs, everybody is represented in the political process.
Dahl, the most prominent pluralist theorist, defines pluralism as the "struggle of individuals and groups to gain autonomy in relation to the control of other" (Dahl, 1986, p. 244). Dahl describes pluralism as the diversity of ideas and by the fact that the ideas exist, however they come to exist, political cleavages are being represented in the political process.
