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Robert A. Dahl

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Robert A. Dahl

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Also known as Robert Alan Dahl, Robert Dahl

American political scientist (1915–2014)

Person · Open Library

Born
1915
Works
94

Top works

  • Congress and foreign policy
  • Democracy and its critics
  • I Sistemi di partito
  • On Democracy
  • The New American political (dis)order

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
2
Total plays
2

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Robert+A.+Dahl">Read more on Last.fm</a>

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Quotes

  • One of the difficulties that confronts anyone who attempts to answer the question, "Who rules in a pluralist democracy?" is the ambiguous relationship of leaders to citizens.
  • People can be deceived by appeals intended to destroy democracy in the name of democracy. Dissenters who believe in the democratic creed may unwittingly advocate or legitimists may insist on preserving rules of the game destined to have unforeseen and unintended consequences disastrous to the stability and perhaps the survival of the democracy.
  • That democratization has never closely approached its theoretical limits, either in the government of the state or in the government of other institutions, is revealed in the three great historical movement toward democratizing the state.
  • The democratic process in governing a country is not necessarily enhanced by democratizing subsidiary parts of the process.
  • Even in a democratic country, it appears, nondemocratic forms of authority might sometimes be tolerable, perhaps actually desirable.
  • Democracy in the sense of political equality and majority rule is by no means the most desirable, that is, optimal solution for all kinds of associations.

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Key facts

Born
Robert Alan Dahl , ( 1915-12-17 ) December 17, 1915, Inwood, Iowa , U.S.
Died
February 5, 2014 (2014-02-05) (aged 98), Hamden, Connecticut , U.S.
Spouses
Mary Louise Bartlett (1940–1970) Ann Sale (1973–2014)
Awards
Johan Skytte Prize (1995)
Education
University of Washington ( BA ) Yale University ( MA , PhD )
Thesis
Socialist Programs and Democratic Politics: An Analysis
Academic advisors
Francis Coker Harvey Mansfield, Sr.
Influences
Elite theory Kenneth Arrow Léon Duguit James Coleman Carl Hempel
Discipline
Political science
Sub discipline
Political theory
Institutions
Yale University
Notable students
Catharine MacKinnon Guillermo O'Donnell Nelson Polsby Ian Shapiro Edward Tufte Ray Wolfinger James Fishkin
Main interests
Democracy Democratization
Notable ideas
Polyarchy Pluralism
Influenced
Charles Lindblom Tom Malleson

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Robert A. Dahl in the Classroom.jpg
Show 4 more facts
date of death
2014-02-05
date of birth
1915-12-17
Commons category
Robert A. Dahl
name in native language
Robert Alan Dahl
Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Article

Robert Alan Dahl (/dɑːl/; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University.

He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interest groups—and introduced "polyarchy" as a descriptor of actual democratic governance. An originator of "empirical theory" and known for advancing behavioralist characterizations of political power, Dahl's research focused on the nature of decision making in actual institutions, such as American cities. He is the most important scholar associated with the pluralist approach to describing and understanding both city and national power structures.

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