Expert: Pierre-Alexandre De Bavay - M.A. - 10/5/2009

Question
What state best fulfills the conditions of polyarchy, Germany, The United States, France, Great Britain or Sweden and why?
Any input would be great, thank you!

Answer
Hi Linda,

Polyarchy is a quite recent concept though difficult to use in political science. The problem is that it remains complex to assess the true limits of power of modern politicians. All the countries you are talking about are very specific and power is not shared in the same way between the various state institutions. At the same time, polyarchy requires a more or less equal share of power between at least 3 influencial political figures of the state.

This is the reason why I would not be able to tell you which of the countries you cited corresponds fully to polyarchy. At first, you need to give a solid definition to the concept: what power in particular are you talking about? Decision making ? Policy making ? Being part of government ? Being part of a federal authority ? Polyarchy would certainly not mean the same thing when considering a federal state like Germany instead of a highly centralized state like France. I cannot analyse this concept and apply it to a concrete case because this requires a lot of time, but if you follow the path of definition, you will surely be able to work on this on your own.