ABSTRACT

Polyarchy requires social indoctrination and habituation in the process of polyarchy and the desirability of democracy. Polyarchy also requires agreement on those basic issues and those methods that facilitate peaceful competition and the opportunity for non-leaders to switch their support to rival leaders. Agreement is necessary both on basic processes and on basic policies. Social indoctrination is of course vital in order to create this agreement on basic processes and basic policies. If one examines the operation of polyarchy and imaginatively penetrates the obvious appearances of free speech, the operation of the press, parties, elections, and defeated governments voluntarily abdicating office, at last one discovers an underlying factor on which this entire structure depends. It is the consciences, norms, and habits of the people in the society, leaders and non-leaders alike. Polyarchy also requires a relatively high degree of political activity. Political activity and control are closely correlated with income, education, and status.