ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Charles E. Lindblom's call for a new form of democracy has to a considerable extent been met implicitly by himself, perhaps more so than he realizes. It traces in a highly abbreviated manner the historical development of the various forms of representative democracy that intervene between Hamilton and Lindblom. The chapter presents Lindblom's critique of Pluralist theory and his adumbration of Multiplism. It outlines a range of critical problems in the practices of representative democracy as the diagnostic prelude to a proffered remedy. The chapter discusses a little beyond lindblom, who is usually chary of concrete proposals, in suggesting an actual institutional model of Multiplism as a possible solution to these problems. Lindblom enters the debate on democratic theory with both a critique and defence of Pluralism. Multiplism, even in its inchoate and disjointed present state, already reveals some of the features of a viable form of multi-representational democracy.
