Week 14: Understanding Our Political System

Out of all the democratic theories explained in the textbook, I agree with C Wright Mill's theory of the 'Power Elite'. The theory explains that the American balance of power is an ideal showing less flexibility today than in the past. According to Mills the Power Elite command the resources of bureaucratic organizations and hence, dominate the modern societies. The Power Elite comprises of people who hold a pivotal position in making decisions having major consequences and affects the lives of ordinary men. I believe to a great degree that the United States has three distinct levels of power as mentioned by Wright Mill - the power elite occupying the highest level, formally and informally making key decisions affecting both domestic and foreign policy. Interest groups follow and occupy the middle levels of power. At the bottom is the mass of the population that has hardly any say in political decisions. Within American society, major national power today resides in the economic, political and military domains. The World War II and the the Iraq war have proven the influence political and military forces have on the country. Religious, educational and family institutions are not centers of power, in fact all these three institutions are shaped by the big three.