Pluralism (political philosophy)

This article is about pluralism as a political philosophy. For the theory that political power in society does not lie with the electorate but is distributed between a wide number of groups, see Pluralism (political theory). For other uses, see Pluralism (disambiguation).

Pluralism as a political philosophy is the recognition and affirmation of diversity within a political body, which permits the peaceful coexistence of different interests, convictions and lifestyles. Political pluralists are not inherently liberals (who place liberty and/or equality as their guiding principles) or conservatives (who place order and/or tradition as their guiding principles) but advocate a form of political moderation. Nor are political pluralists necessarily advocates of a democratic plurality, but generally agree that this form of government is often best at moderating discrete values.[1]

As put by arch-pluralist Isaiah Berlin, "[l]et us have the courage of our admitted ignorance, of our doubts and uncertainties. At least we can try to discover what others […] require, by […] making it possible for ourselves to know men as they truly are, by listening to them carefully and sympathetically, and understanding them and their lives and their needs…."[2] Pluralism thus tries to encourage members of society to accommodate their differences by avoiding extremism (adhering solely to one value, or at the very least refusing to recognize others as legitimate) and engaging in good faith dialogue. Pluralists also seek the construction or reform of social institutions in order to reflect and balance competing principles. One of the more famous arguments for institutional pluralism came from James Madison in The Federalist paper Number 10. Madison feared that factionalism would lead to in-fighting in the new American republic and devotes this paper to questioning how best to avoid such an occurrence. He posits that to avoid factionalism, it is best to allow many competing factions (advocating different primary principles) to prevent any one from dominating the political system. This relies, to a degree, on a series of disturbances changing the influences of groups so as to avoid institutional dominance and ensure competition.[3] Like Edmund Burke, this view concerns itself with balance, and subordinating any single abstract principle to a plurality or realistic harmony of interests.

Of course, pluralism recognizes that certain conditions may make good faith negotiation impossible, and therefore also focuses on what institutional structures can best modify or prevent such a situation. Pluralism advocates a form of realism here, or that one begins with a given socio-historical structure and goes from there.

Pluralism and the common good

Pluralism is connected with the hope that this process of conflict and dialogue will result in a quasi-common good. This common good is not an abstract value or set in stone, however, but an attempt at balancing competing social interests, and will thus constantly shift given present social conditions. Proponents in contemporary political philosophy of such a view include (the aforementioned) Isaiah Berlin, Stuart Hampshire and Bernard Williams. An earlier version of political pluralism was a strong current in the formation of modern social democracy (to balance socialist and capitalist ideals), with theorists such as the early Harold Laski and G. D. H. Cole, as well as other leading members of the British Fabian Society. In the United States, President Eisenhower's "middle way" was arguably motivated by a belief in political pluralism.[4]

While advocated by many pluralists, pluralism need not embrace social democracy given it does not a priori assume a desirable political system. Rather, pluralists advocate one based on the preexisting traditions and cognizable interests of a given society, and the political structure most likely to harmonize these factors. Thus, pluralists have also included Michael Oakeshott and John Kekes, proponents of something close to liberal conservatism (although will often reject such political labels). What pluralists certainly do have in common is the notion that a single vision or ideological schema, whether Marxism or unbridled neoliberalism, is likely too simplistic and rigid to advocate human beings' natural plurality of values. Pluralists likewise reject historicism and utopian thinking. While some, like John N. Gray, repudiate historical progress altogether, others, like Edmund Burke, indicate a form of human progress may be possible by improved social harmony.

The Fourth Way

The Fourth Way is an attempt, although certainly not shared by all (or even most) pluralists, to conceptualize a pluralist political schema.

Coined by Pluralist Party leader Jonathan Bishop, the Fourth Way is meant to represent a particular approach to pluralist integrated bargaining where one finds two opposing view points, the third way compromise between them, and then a fourth way which takes the best parts of the first and second ways which dismisses all the conclusions of the third way.[5] For instance, in political systems; the first way might be for a government to make public services based on the involvement of private sector firms, the second way using public sector organisations, and the third way to use a Public–private partnership. The fourth way would be to allow the public to choose the service provider best for them based on their principles and values and not the ideological biases of government or civic officials. Likely, this fourth way will eventually manage to establish its own view as the generally accepted view, and then over time become the first way as science and society develop. This can only occur as the result of the negotiation process within the pluralistic framework, which implies the "operator" as a general rule of a truly pluralistic framework, i.e. the state in a pluralistic society, must not be biased.

Many pluralists (like Isaiah Berlin or Michael Oakeshott), while perhaps sympathetic to the Fourth Way's premises, would entirely reject any such formalized system. To Oakeshott, for example, laying out any single system of rules problematically reduces politics to an abstraction, which is better (and more honestly) based on a pluralist temperament in a given political climate than any systematic schema.[6]

Conditions for pluralism

For pluralism to function and to be successful in defining the common good, all groups have to agree to a minimal consensus that shared values are at least worth pursuing. The most important baseline value is thus that of mutual respect or tolerance. If no such dialogue is possible, extremism and physical coercion are likely inevitable.

See also

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Notable Pluralists

Notes

  1. ↑ Pluralism Liberal Democracy' ISBN 080188215X
  2. ↑ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berlin/#4.4
  3. ↑ http://science.jrank.org/pages/10751/Pluralism-Political-Pluralism.html
  4. ↑ http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI9952203/
  5. ↑ Pluralist Party FAQs
  6. ↑

References