This essay tries to look into some of the central political theories to pick up some of the main themes made by those theorists and thus, achieve two things: one would be to draw conclusions from these main points as to who exercises power in the contemporary world according to each theory; the second would be to draw a conclusion, based on the different theories discussed in the essay, as to who exercises power in contemporary world.

The pluralists believe that the in democratic political system everybody is represented in the political process. The main idea of the pluralism is that through the system of having two or more parties, with the influence of interest groups in society (whether through lobbying or through public opinion), everyone get their say, whether they actively

The feminist theorists believe that all other theories of power ignore the place of women in society. Feminists believe that during most of history women were excluded from political participation, which leads to lack of female political power today. Regarding the pluralist theory, feminists note that due to the traditional domestic role assigned to women by men as the one who takes care of the children and of the house, women are underrepresented in the political process and are less likely to be part of the political process. As to the elitist theory, feminists that it is for the same domestic role, women were excluded from the political elite that was wholly assembled by men. As for the marxist theory, feminists believe that it stresses too much on class and not enough on gender, as even women of upper classes were excluded from the political process.

Mills describes the elite as a group of people who transcend above the common people and are put in a position to make decisions that will affect the whole of society. He argues that whether they make or not such decisions is irrelevant due to the fact that they are the ones who have the power to make such decisions. This power elite, according to Mills, is not only the rulers but also their people immediately below them: Advisers, spokesmen, opinion makers and even what he calls the ‘professional celebrities’ (Mills, 1956, pp. 3 – 4).

Some topics in this essay:
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