Organizations and Pluralist Democracy

Abstract

The ideal conception of pluralist democracy can be seen as a schematic picture of actual conditions. On the local level ‐ in the municipalities ‐ there are a number of variants of pluralism. If local political systems can be assumed to be of varying character, it stands to reason that the roles of organizations in those sub‐systems can also vary.The following three general conclusions concerning the role of organizations in Swedish municipal politics are supported by our empirical findings:(1) A heterogeneous pattern of values in a municipality promotes the development of an arrangement in which organizations predominantly assume the role of political opposition.(2) The interaction between municipalities and organizations is a function of the pattern of local political values. The more heterogeneous this pattern, the more frequent are politically oriented contacts.(3) Increased overlap of the social, the economic and the political arenas, and a more incrementalist decision‐making structure in modern municipalities, creates greater incentives for the formation of organizations.There should not be any doubt about the fact that the amalgamation reforms contributed to the creation of a more differentiated and multifaced structure of organizations. Hence, it could be said that the amalgamation reforms together with other structural factors are in the long run positively correlated with pluralism!‘Whatever progress may come in the future, anyone attempting today to give a systematic account of organizational behavior, especially of politically relevant behavior, cannot pretend he is offering a theory in any strict sense. At best, he can offer a theoretical perspective, a way of looking at organizations that directs attention persuasively to a few central processes that seem to explain (though not predict, in any scientific sense) a wide variety of phenomena.’ (Wilson 1973. 13).