Who Governs, Revisited

In practice

Read the case file both ways. Elite theory's exhibits accumulated steadily: participation climbs with age, income, and education (Gov 206); small, economically advantaged groups organize best while diffuse publics free ride (Gov 270); incumbents compound their advantages election over election (Gov 321); money is a regulated but real instrument (Gov 274); and the branch with the last constitutional word is the one nobody elected (Gov 412). Pluralism's exhibits accumulated beside them: the system's many levels and branches are exactly the access points pluralists name (Gov 012); policy visibly emerges from group contest (Gov 291); major parties absorb the issues movements and third parties prove popular (Gov 263); some states hand citizens the pen directly (Gov 219 through 221); and the linkage machinery — media, parties, groups — does transmit, whatever else it filters (Gov 291). The honest finding after ten units: both theories survive contact with the evidence, which is why the anchor presents them as standing rivals rather than a settled verdict. The measured public of Gov 181 is either being heard or being selected, and the course's whole map is what a citizen needs to argue either side well. The audit is also repeatable: every exhibit named here is a numbered entry carrying its own receipt, so the file can be re-examined at any depth, on any claim, at any time.