Polyarchy

Polyarchy is a word from Greek roots (polýs, "many", and αρχειν (arjéin): & #34;government") which refers to the government of many. The etymology is broad enough that the concept has developed various meanings.

Geopolitics

As a politically neutral concept, the term polyarchy refers to the world political situation, in which there is no dominant global structure of government that resolves conflicts between states, subnational or transnational groups. These conflicts are managed ad hoc between various combinations of these actors, which may vary from one situation to another. There are many governments.

Militant concept

However, the concept of polyarchy has evolved into an activist-type concept that refers to rule by many and, in this sense, serves as an alternative philosophy to "liberal democracy". The starting point is that genuine unity is an impossible ideal and that rule by the many is carried out by multiple elites representing different communities within the political community. Polyarchists believe that conflicts are better resolved through dialogue than through the arbitrary use of coercive force by higher authority.

Polyarchy and Democracy

Some approaches oppose polyarchy (the government of many) to democracy (the government -kratos=power- of the demos=town). With this they intend to mean that, given that, for those who defend it, the participation of the people is an impossible ideal, we can only achieve a formal system of selection of elites for government work. In the words of Mark Curtis: "A system in which a small group rules and the participation of the masses is limited to electing leaders in elections dominated by competing elites." (Web of Deceit, p. 247)

On the other hand, it is argued that polyarchy is an end, an objective that is sustained through the joint action of a Rule of Law, a Republic, alternation in power, the empire of freedom and equality, and that the best means to try to achieve that goal today is democracy.

Robert A. Dahl

The theorist who made the concept fashionable was Robert Dahl, in a book called "Polyarchy" in which he considered polyarchy as a procedure with a set of requirements (free, periodic and competitive elections) and separated the political system from the successes that it could achieve in providing levels of material well-being to its citizens.

For Dahl, polyarchy meets the following requirements:

1) For a political system to function correctly, citizens must be able to:

• Formulate your preferences.
• Express these preferences to others and to the government through individual or collective action.
• To make the preferences themselves considered equally, without discrimination as to their content or origin.

2) For these three opportunities to be given, the State must guarantee at least:

• Freedom of association and organization
• Freedom of thought and expression
• The right to active and passive suffrage
• The right to compete for electoral support
• Accessible sources of information
• Free and fair periodic elections, resulting in limited mandates
• Existence of institutions that control and make government voting policies and other expressions of preferences dependent