>CB: I want to know how this modern American ruling class makes decisions.
Sociologists like Domhoff (http://www.hollings.net/Content/Domhoff-WhoRulesAmerica-PowerAtTheNationalL evel.pdf ) and Dye (http://www.hollings.net/Content/Dye-Who%27sRunningAmerica.pdf ) describe elite control at the national level as a diffuse process with several thousand key influencers. However, their methodology, which is based on aggregate data, seems to me unlikely to reveal if key individuals and organizations play a leading role within this diffuse body. To investigate whether or not that is the case, it is appropriate to trace the evolution and implementation of major public policies, such as the NAFTA agreement, and to see whether certain institutions, such as the CFR, played a prominent role. Also, noteworthy is whether these institutions actually advocate a leading role for themselves in the making of public policy. For an example of this by an affiliate of the CFR, see "The Crisis of Democracy - Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission" ( http://www.hollings.net/Content/TrilateralCommission-CrisisOfDemocracy.pdf ). Peter Hollings _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
