The Concept of Political Equality: A Post-Dahl Analysis

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the concept of political equality that is derived partly from the analysis of Robert Dahl. Following an introductory section, the conservative nature of Dahl's idea of political equality is outlined from four perspectives. With the last of these perspectives, a distinction between ‘populist’ and ‘liberal’ theories of democracy is introduced. In the third section it is argued that there are three components of political equality within a liberal theory, and the fourth section is devoted to an analysis of one of these—equality of treatment in the promotion of interests.