ABSTRACT
Pluralism is an American theory about the impact of sectional and group conflict on policy making. It occupied a central place in political debate in the 1950s and 1960s, but it is an enduring concept in American political thought, having been formulated in one form by the founders of the republic and being current in a modified form right up to the 1990s. As a theory, pluralism has been defined and redefined, supported by empirical studies, criticized and attacked as misleading. It no longer has such a central place in debate as it had a few years ago, but it has featured in so much of the writing about American politics that it clearly deserves a chapter in this book. Moreover, its use has spread from the United States to other countries, some writers having said that all democratic systems are pluralist in character. To some extent, the concept of pluralism is an American intellectual export.
