Month: November 2010

Dahl’s definition of polyarchy is good, but it’s not complete. His theory doesn’t account for the most powerful force in politics: information distribution. Those who control access to information have tremendous political power because they can amplify certain elements within society and silence others. By adding openness to Dalh’s polyarchy graph as the third dimension, the possibility of a relationship between competitiveness and inclusiveness arises within the newly created 3D space. This relationship manifests itself in the graph z=x^3 + y^3. In this graph, a positively transparent society appears in the top left area of the plane while a negatively transparent society appears in the bottom right area one.