Thanks for the question! Yup, the answer choice is (E). We need to strengthen Dahl’s defense of polyarchy with new information presented in one of the answer choices. What is his defense of polyarchy? It’s presented in the first paragraph. Dahl argues that polyarchy is a great approximation of democratic ideals (lines 13-15). These ideals consist of political equality, which is where all citizens can determine or influence collective decisions equally (lines 6-7). Looking further down at lines 20-25, we learn that Dahl thinks that polyarchy is the nearest possible approximation to the democratic ideal because of its “centrifugal characteristic†where a variety of individuals, groups, and organizations have power because of pressure groups and party competition. (E) helps out Dahl because if only large and powerful groups have influence, then it undermines what he says, since then power would be concentrated in a few major players. But if, as (E) says, small and diverse pressure groups can exert as much influence on public policy as more powerful groups, it validates Dahl’s points, and so (E) is our answer. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you might have.
