AP® United States Government and Politics review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/gov/units/1/1-2)
Unit 1 · Topic 1.2
1.2 Types of Democracy
The United States is a representative democracy, but there are three competing models of how much ordinary people should steer it: participatory, pluralist and elite. You can find all three built into the Constitution and in today's politics, and the debate between Federalist No. 10 and Brutus No. 1 shows the founders arguing over them.
Key terms
- representative democracy
- participatory democracy
- pluralist democracy
- elite democracy
Representative democracy (a republic)
In a representative democracy, citizens elect officials to make laws for them. The founders called this a republic. They rejected direct democracy, where citizens vote on every law, because they thought it was impractical in a large country and feared that passionate majorities would trample minority rights.
The three models below are not different forms of government. They're different theories about who really holds influence inside a representative democracy, and each describes part of American politics.
The three models
| Model | Core idea | Examples in U.S. politics |
|---|---|---|
| Participatory democracy | Broad participation by as many citizens as possible in politics and civic life | Ballot initiatives and referendums, town hall meetings, primaries, protests, voting |
| Pluralist democracy | Groups with shared interests compete to influence policy, and no one group dominates | Interest groups lobbying Congress, groups filing amicus briefs, unions and business groups bargaining |
| Elite democracy | A small, wealthy and well-educated few hold most influence and make most decisions | The Electoral College, senators originally chosen by state legislatures, appointed federal judges, major donors |
The models inside the Constitution
- Participatory: the House has always been directly elected, the First Amendment protects speech, assembly and petition, and later amendments (like the 17th and 26th) widened who participates.
- Pluralist: the First Amendment's rights to assemble and petition let groups organize and press their case, and the many access points created by federalism and separation of powers give groups lots of places to push.
- Elite: the founders put buffers between the public and power. Senators were chosen by state legislatures until 1913, the president is chosen by electors, and federal judges are appointed, not elected.
Federalist No. 10 and Brutus No. 1
These two required documents, covered fully in 1.3, also show the models in tension.
James Madison's Federalist No. 10 has elite and pluralist strands. It says elected representatives will “refine and enlarge” public views, filtering popular passions through wiser judgment (elite). It also argues that a large republic contains so many competing factions that none can easily form an oppressive majority (pluralist).
Brutus No. 1, an Anti-Federalist essay, leans participatory. Brutus argued that in a huge republic, representatives would be too few and too distant to know or reflect ordinary people, so real self-government needs smaller, closer units where citizens can watch their officials.
The tension today
The same scenario can be read through different models. When a city holds a referendum, that's participatory. When teachers' unions and taxpayer groups both lobby the legislature about a school budget, that's pluralist. When a few large donors fund most of a campaign, critics call that elite influence. Debates over campaign finance, the Electoral College and ballot initiatives are really debates about which model should win out.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Classifying a scenario by model
Dozens of organizations, including farm groups, environmental groups and food companies, each meet with members of a congressional committee to shape a new agriculture bill. Which model of democracy does this scenario best illustrate? Explain.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Identify who is trying to influence policy: organized groups, not individual voters and not a tiny group of elites.
- Step 2: Notice that many groups with different interests are competing, and none controls the outcome alone.
- Step 3: That matches pluralist democracy, where policy results from competition among organized groups.
Answer: Pluralist democracy, because many organized interest groups compete to influence the bill and policy reflects bargaining among them.
Common mistakes
- Calling interest-group activity “participatory democracy.” When the scenario stresses organized groups competing, the answer is pluralist; participatory stresses broad individual involvement.
- Treating elite democracy as an insult. On the exam it's a neutral description: the view that a smaller, informed group should or does make most decisions.
- Forgetting that the U.S. mixes all three. Questions may ask which feature of the Constitution reflects a given model, so know at least one constitutional example of each.
On the exam
- Expect scenario questions that describe a political activity and ask which model it reflects. Look for clue words: “citizens directly” (participatory), “groups compete” (pluralist), “a few well-educated or wealthy” (elite).
- Argument essays sometimes ask which model best achieves democratic ideals. Federalist No. 10 and Brutus No. 1 make strong evidence on opposite sides.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
5 questions on 1.2 Types of Democracy. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
In a small New England town, residents gather each spring to debate and vote directly on the town budget and local rules. Which model of democracy does this practice best illustrate?
By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
… The inference to which we are brought is, that the CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS.
… Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other.
James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787
Madison's reasoning in the third paragraph is most consistent with which model of democracy?
If respect is to be paid to the opinion of the greatest and wisest men who have ever thought or wrote on the science of government, we shall be constrained to conclude, that a free republic cannot succeed over a country of such immense extent, containing such a number of inhabitants, and these increasing in such rapid progression as that of the whole United States.
… In a republic, the manners, sentiments, and interests of the people should be similar. If this be not the case, there will be a constant clashing of opinions; and the representatives of one part will be continually striving against those of the other. This will retard the operations of government, and prevent such conclusions as will promote the public good.
Brutus No. 1, Anti-Federalist essay, October 18, 1787
Brutus and the author of Federalist No. 10 would most likely disagree about
The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.
The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country …
Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens …
James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787
Madison's claim in the second paragraph that elected representatives can “refine and enlarge the public views” is most consistent with which model of democracy?
Which feature of the Constitution best reflects the “first difference” Madison describes?
0 of 5 answered