Is the United States really a democratic nation?
I missed this at the time, but I have just come across an academic study published in April 2014. It is written by two academics from Princeton University and Northwestern University and looks at who most influences the making of policy in the American political system.
You can access the full study here. It’s a long paper in very academic language, but the conclusion is clear:
“When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.
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What do our findings say about democracy in America? They certainly constitute troubling news for advocates of “populistic” democracy, who want governments to respond primarily or exclusively to the policy preferences of their citizens. In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule — at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.
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Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.”
If you are interested in how the American political system works, you can read my short guide here.
August 23rd, 2014 at 7:38 am
Thanks Roger. Do you know if they looked at government at the Federal level or a number of levels? Are you surprised by the result? Do you think it would be different in the UK?
Meanwhile, in New South Wales there’s an inquiry into corruption involving politicians, property developers, banned donations and a lot of lies. In other words, “powerful business organisations” have been dominating policymaking.
“So far the investigations have resulted in the resignation of a premier and nine Liberal MPs from the party”.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-21/untangling-the-web-how-the-icac-scandal-unfolded/5686346
The Liberal party came in to government following a related scandal in the previous, Labor, government.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-22/dempster-following-the-money-down-the-ballot-hole/5688764
August 23rd, 2014 at 7:35 pm
Hi, Nadine.
My understanding is that this study relates to policymaking at the federal level. I am not surprised by the result, but it is useful to have independent and academic evidence to support my belief that American policymaking has been captured by lobbyists representing the most wealthy and powerful interests.
I believe that this would be less true of policymaking in the UK because our political system is so different. Whereas US congressmen can effectively be ‘bought’ because they need vast funds to win elections and then can virtually vote as they wish, British electoral law strictly controls expenditure in elections and Members of Parliament have to vote in accordance with a party whip.
August 26th, 2014 at 3:35 pm
As one who spent a career working in American politics and legislative affairs, I think the blanket assertion of the study’s authors that the policy desires of the “average American” or “majority of Americans” are largely ignored is over-stated.
Our country is 300 million people spread over four time zones, with 2/3’s of the population concentrated on both coasts. To define the desires of an “average American” or the “majority of Americans” at any given time is near impossible.
One of the most influential of our Founders, James Madison, for example, feared the people’s “common impulse of passion”. That’s why our Founders created a system stacked against the “passion” of the majority and designed a process to make it very difficult for the central government to enact legislation affecting the entire nation.
So it is much easier in the U.S. political system to stop bad ideas from happening than getting good ideas implemented. And that is not always a bad thing. With so many competing interests, regional differences and multi-cultural groups, representational democracy in the U.S. is a competition for limited resources and attention from the federal government.
As a result, the best organized, moneyed and knowledgeable groups have more influence than others. This unfortunate fact was accurately identified by the authors which is one reason why so many Americans are frustrated by and alienated from the political process which leaves the political playing field open to moneyed interests and extremists like our Tea Party (who, of course, do not think of themselves as extremists).