Dahl teaching a political science class at Yale University
Born
Robert Alan Dahl
(1915-12-17)December 17, 1915
Inwood, Iowa, U.S.
Died
February 5, 2014(2014-02-05) (aged 98)
Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.
Spouses
Mary Louise Bartlett (1940–1970)
Ann Sale (1973–2015)
Children
5
Awards
Johan Skytte Prize (1995)
Academic background
Education
University of Washington (B.A., 1936)
Yale University (Ph.D., 1940)
Thesis
Socialist Programs and Democratic Politics: An Analysis
Academic advisors
Francis Coker
Harvey Mansfield, Sr.
Influences
Elite theory
Kenneth Arrow
Léon Duguit
James Coleman
Carl Hempel
Academic work
Discipline
Political science
Sub-discipline
Political theory
Institutions
Yale University
Notable students
Catharine MacKinnon
Guillermo O'Donnell
Nelson Polsby
Ian Shapiro
Edward Tufte
Ray Wolfinger
James Fishkin
Main interests
Democracy, Democratization
Notable ideas
Polyarchy
Pluralism
Influenced
Charles Lindblom
Tom Malleson
Robert Alan Dahl (/dɑːl/; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University.
He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interest groups—and introduced "polyarchy" as a descriptor of actual democratic governance. An originator of "empirical theory" and known for advancing behavioralist characterizations of political power, Dahl's research focused on the nature of decision making in actual institutions, such as American cities.[1][2] He is the most important scholar associated with the pluralist approach to describing and understanding both city and national power structures.[3]
In addition to his work on the descriptive theory of democracy, he was long occupied with the formulation of the constituent elements of democracy considered as a theoretical but realizable ideal. By virtue of the cogency, clarity, and veracity of his portrayal of some of the key characteristics of realizable-ideal democracy, as well as his descriptive analysis of the dynamics of modern pluralist-democracy, he is considered one of the greatest theorists of democracy in history.
^Rodrigues, Adrien; Lloyd-Thomas, Matthew (February 7, 2014). "Dahl's Legacy Remembered". Yale Daily News. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
^Campbell, John C. (Fall 1985). "Controlling Nuclear Weapons: Democracy Versus Guardianship". Foreign Affairs. No. Fall 1985. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
^Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 164.
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A free and fair election is defined by political scientist RobertDahl as an election in which "coercion is comparatively uncommon". A free and fair election...
for individual representatives). Some political theorists (including RobertDahl, Gregory Houston, and Ian Liebenberg) have described representative democracy...
institutions. In his 1971 paper Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition, RobertDahl provided a basic framework to evaluate democracies or polyarchies (nearly/almost...
Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British author and scriptwriter, and "the most popular writer of children's books since Enid Blyton", according to Philip...
science, the term polyarchy (poly "many", arkhe "rule") was used by Robert A. Dahl to describe a form of government in which power is invested in multiple...
procedures that govern the community afford equal consideration to all. RobertDahl believes that the ideal of democracy assumes that political equality...
John Dahl (born December 11, 1956) is an American film and television director and writer, best known for his work in the neo-noir genre. John Dahl was...
and Its Critics is a book in American political science, written by RobertDahl. The book was published by Yale University Press in 1989. In the following...
medium term (10–20 years), but not necessarily in shorter time windows." RobertDahl argued that market economies provided favorable conditions for democratic...
the pluralist tradition in political science. (see Harold Lasswell and RobertDahl) Easton's approach has been criticised for being unfalsifiable and holding...
characterized early behavioral political science, including work by RobertDahl, Philip Converse, and in the collaboration between sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld...
detailed FAQ, extensive links, and so on. Black, Jeremy Allen; Baines, John Robert; Dahl, Jacob L.; Van De Mieroop, Marc. Cunningham, Graham; Ebeling, Jarle;...
central banks and constitutional courts became increasingly important. RobertDahl argued that these processes risked producing alienation because they...
In 1946 and 1947, prominent Public Administration scholars such as RobertDahl, Dwight Waldo, and Herbert A. Simon released articles and books criticising...
and David Soskice see democracy and capitalism as mutually supportive. RobertDahl argued in On Democracy that capitalism was beneficial for democracy because...
marxist, communitarian and multicultural perspectives. Democratic theorist RobertDahl has expressed his doubts about the possibility of expanding democracy...
These measures attempt to gauge contestation and inclusion; two features RobertDahl argued are essential in democracies that successfully promote accountable...
as in the work of "pluralist" political theorists like David Truman, RobertDahl and Daniel Bell. Technocratic notions at home on the Right played little...
Damodar Savarkar Charles Taylor Simone Weil Kenneth Arrow Jeremy Bentham RobertDahl Amy Gutmann Will Kymlicka John Stuart Mill John Rawls Michael Walzer...
stood out in sharp contrast to theories of pluralism, championed by RobertDahl and others, which argued that interest groups provide competition and...
executives of Ascend Communications Jeanette Symons, Mory Ejabat and RobertDahl. In 2016 Zhone Technologies merged with DASAN Network Solutions to form...
Darren Dahl is a Canadian business professor of marketing, currently the BC Innovation Council Professor and current Dean and Director of the Robert H. Lee...
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