... ruling class will be altogether avoided. Pluralism is descriptive, and asserts that modern states have developed mechanisms over time which avoid state monism and encourage a diverse range of methods and channels through which a citizen can control political leaders and shape the development of public policies.1 To this end, therefore, pluralists invest key institutions such as the media, pressure groups the state and elections with the importance of diffusing power to individuals, which prevents a single group or institution from controlling the state. Marxism accounts for the location of power in a completely different manner. It asserts that the only basis of power is economic power, and that that is unequally distributed. Unlike pluralism it indicates the existence of a ruling class which has a virtual monopoly of power, and Marxism also disagrees that the existence of institutions such as the church or courts of law help to disperse ...

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