ABSTRACT
But as we have already pointed out, to monopolize coercive power is not to have a monopoly of all power. This has two implications. Firstly, the state must often defer to other sorts of power, exercised by associations whose goodwill it must have. Secondly, precisely because the state has vast coercive power, as well as a great de facto authority, many other associations will be anxious to manage the state. In the liberal democracies political parties are organized for just this purpose. Their power derives immediately from the votes they win, but their capacity to win them depends very largely on their wealth; and so they are themselves open to the pressures exerted by associations and individuals who finance them. Churches and trade unions sponsor political parties, and other interests subscribe liberally to their funds. The vast sums spent in an American Presidential election are not all subscribed out of disinterested idealism.
