An Analysis of Robert A. Dahl's Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City

American political theorist Robert Dahl¿s 1961 work of political theory exhibits deep levels of creative thinking. When Dahl wrote, the American system of liberal democracy was generally considered to be shaped by a small group of powerful individuals who dominate because they are wealthy and influential. But by connecting the evidence in a new way in Who Governs? Dahl argued convincingly against this view.

Dahl suggested that power is actually distributed among a number of competing groups, and that each of those groups seeks to influence decisions. He puts forward a definition of political power as the ability to make others do what you want them to, concluding that ¿ while most people do not actively participate in politics and so do not exert a direct influence ¿ power is still fragmented, and citizens do indirectly shape decision-making.

Dahl¿s novel explanation of the existing evidence emerged from a study of three areas of policy-making in the city of New Haven: p