Robert A. Dahl (b. 1915), is a Sterling Professor emeritus of political science at Yale University, a past president of the American Political Science Association and one of the most distinguished political scientists writing today. 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A Sterling Professorship is the highest academic rank at Yale University, awarded to a tenured faculty member considered one of the best in his or her field. ... Niccolò Machiavelli, ca 1500, became the key figure in realistic political theory, crucial to political science Political Science is the systematic study of the allocation and transfer of power in decision making. ... This article is about the institution of higher learning in the United States. ... The American Political Science Association, founded in 1903, serves more than 15,000 members in more than 80 countries, bringing a variety of services to political scientists both inside and outside academic institutions. ...

In the 1960s, he was involved in a landmark dispute with C. Wright Mills over the nature of politics in the United States. Mills held that America's governments are in the grasp of a unitary and demographically narrow power elite. Dahl responded that there are many different elites involved, who have to work both in contention and in compromise with one another. If this is not democracy in a populist sense, Dahl contended, it is at least polyarchy. Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916, Waco, Texas – March 20, 1962, Nyack, New York) was an American sociologist. ... The Federal Government of the United States was established by the United States Constitution. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. ... Polyarchy, as defined by Robert Dahl (coiner of the term and creator of the theory), has seven attributes: 1) elected officials; 2) free and fair elections; 3) inclusive suffrage; 4) the right to run for office; 5) freedom of expression; 6) alternative information; and 7) associational autonomy. ...

In more recent years, Dahl's writings have taken on a more pessimistic tone. In How Democratic Is the American Constitution? (2002) he argued that the constitution is much less democratic than it ought to be and that there is little or nothing that can be done about this "short of some constitutional breakdown, which I neither foresee nor, certainly, wish for." How Democratic is the American Constitution? (2002) is a book by political scientist Robert A. Dahl that discusses undemocratic elements of the U.S. Constitution. ...

Bibliography

The following is not the complete list: Dahl has written a lot -- most libraries, in most places in the world, will contain some book by Dahl -- all of it very much worth reading, nowadays, now that "democracy" and "freedom" have become such popular political subjects... and mid-"wars" of various kinds...

• How democratic is the American Constitution? 2nd ed. (New Haven, Conn. ; London : Yale University Press, 2003).
• Es Democrática La Constitución de Los Estados Unidos? (México, D.F.; San Diego, CA : Fondo de Cultura Económica USA, 2003).
• The democracy sourcebook. ed. by Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and José Antonio Cheibub. (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2003).
• Modern political analysis. with Bruce Stinebrickner. 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall, c2003).
• Entrevista Sobre El Pluralismo. (México, D.F.; San Diego, CA : Fondo de Cultura Económica USA, 2003).
• De la démocratie. traduit de l'américain par Monique Berry. Traduction de : On democracy. ([Paris] : Nouveaux horizons, 2001).
• How democratic is the American Constitution? (New Haven : Yale University Press, c2001).
• On democracy. (New Haven : Yale Nota Bene, 2000).
• On democracy. (New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, c1998).
• Dahl reflects on a preface to democratic theory. Public affairs report. Vol. 38, no. 4 (July 1997).
• Toward democracy, a journey : reflections, 1940-1997. (Berkeley : Institute of Governmental Studies Press, University of California, Berkeley, 1997).
• Justifying democracy. Society. Vol. 32, no. 3 (Mar.-Apr. 1995).
• The New American political (dis)order : an essay. responses by Richard M. Abrams ... [et al.]. (Berkeley : Institute of Governmental Studies Press, 1994).
• Democracy and its critics. (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1991).
• After the revolution? : authority in a good society. Rev. ed. (New Haven : Yale University Press, c1990).
• Myth of the presidential mandate. Political science quarterly. Vol. 105, no. 3 (fall 1990).
• Democracy and its critics. (New Haven : Yale University Press, c1989).
• Democracy, liberty, and equality. (Oslo : Oxford ; New York : Norwegian University Press ; Distributed world-wide excluding Scandinavia by Oxford University Press, c1986).
• A preface to economic democracy. (Berkeley : University of California Press, reprint 1986).
• A preface to economic democracy. (Berkeley : University of California Press, c1985).
• Dilemmas of pluralist democracy : autonomy vs. control. (New Haven : Yale University Press, reprint 1983).
• Dilemmas of pluralist democracy : autonomy vs. control. (New Haven : Yale University Press, c1982).
• Democracy in the United States : promise and performance. 4th ed. (Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., c1981).
• Politics, economics, and welfare : planning and politico-economic systems resolved into basic social processes. with Charles E. Lindblom ; with a new pref. by the authors. (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1976).
• Democracy in the United States : promise and performance. 3d ed. (Chicago : Rand McNally College Pub. Co., c1976).
• L'Analyse politique contemporaine. traduit de [la 2e éd. anglaise] par Iain Whyte ; introduction de Pierre Birnbaum. Traduction de : Modern political analysis. (Paris : R. Laffont, 1973).
• Size and democracy. with Edward R. Tufte. (Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press, 1973).
• Regimes and oppositions. ed. Robert A. Dahl (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1973).
• Aprés la révolution : l'autorité dans une société modèle. traduit par Annie de Mèredieu. Traduction de : After the revolution: authority in a good society. (Paris; Calmann-Lévy, 1972).
• Democracy in the United States: promise and performance. 2d ed. (Chicago, Rand McNally [1972]).
• Polyarchy; participation and opposition. (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1971).
• After the revolution; authority in a good society. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1970).
• L'Avenir de l'opposition dans les démocraties. Traduction de: Political oppositions in Western democracies. Traduit de l'américain par Maurice Luciani. (Paris : S.I.D.I.I.S. (impr. Firmin-Didot et Cie), 1966).
• Political oppositions in western democracies. ed. Robert A. Dahl. (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1968, c1966).
• Pluralist democracy in the United States: conflict and consent. (Chicago : Rand McNally [1967]).
• Congress and foreign policy. (New York : W.W. Norton [1964]).
• A preface to democratic theory. (Chicago : University of Chicago Press [1967, c1956]).
• Political oppositions in Western democracies. ed. Robert A. Dahl. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1966).
• L'Avenir de l'opposition dans les démocraties. (Paris, S. E. D. E. I. S., 1966).
• Politics, economics, and welfare: planning and politico-economic systems resolved into basic social processes. with Charles E. Lindblom. (New York, Harper [1963]).
• A preface to democratic theory: How does popular sovereignty function in America? (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1956).
• Congress and foreign policy. (New Haven : Yale Institute of International Studies, 1949).