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Are you a student in a live classroom course with questions about the Reading Comprehension?
Ask away, hotshot.
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Live Classroom RC
Apr 27 2011
#1
majorgeneraldave
Live Classroom RC
Sep 5 2011
#2
Michal
Hey again Dave! (Did I mention how awsome you are today ;) )
Book 101, page 239, question 13:
Dahl's defense of polyarchy is that it is never 'ideal' and perfect due to hierarchy and inequality in resources, correct? So I was not sure how to strengthen this. Show that it is a great system but with flaws? Choice E only shows it as a great system- and his defense admits its flaws. I should have realized this was also a game of "one is not like the others", but I can't tell why.
Again, many many thanks!
Sep 5 2011
#3
majorgeneraldave
Dahl's defense in 2 parts:
1. Polyarchy is the closest we get to true democracy, in which every vote counts.
2. Polyarchy achieves this by "a diffusion of power... toward a variety of groups" (line 18-19).
To make this claim, he's assuming that the groups in question all have equal power - in the same way that in a democracy, all individuals have equal power. (E) helps in classic Strengthen mode - it asserts the necessary assumption.
If small groups do have as much power as large groups, then it sounds like his assumption is correct, and that makes it more likely that polyarchy does mimic the effects of democracy.