Polyarchy

As a polyarchy ( altgr. πολυαρχία polyarchía, polyarchy ', of πολύς polys, much ' and ἄρχειν archein prevail ') is a form of rule is referred to in political science, in many centers of political power coexist. Robert Alan Dahl has this traditional term meaning modified in that he thus an imperfect approximation to a democratic ideal type describes what is characteristic of the constitutional reality in the modern representative democracies.

Concept

According to Dahl ideal typical democracies are characterized by five system characteristics: accurate, effective participation, equal suffrage and a tie, especially in crucial vote stages, enlightened knowledge, final control of the political agenda by the people and inclusion of all voting adult citizens.

In contrast, most real existing democracies turned out merely as a polyarchy. Core variables such polyarchischen democracies are by Dahl on the one hand the ability of all citizens to political participation and on the other hand, free competition for political power. These principles would be guaranteed by freedom of expression, information and freedom of the press, organization and freedom of association for the formation of political parties and interest groups, right to vote, stand for election for public office, the right of political leaders to promote support, especially during elections, free and fair elections and institutions that make the government policy of votes and other expressions of citizen preferences dependent.

The concept of democracy in transition research - that branch of comparative government theory that deals with transforming the system of autocracy toward democracy - largely oriented to the procedural - institutional concept of democracy from the perspective of Dahl'schen polyarchy concept.