Robert Dahl

Robert Dahl
Dahl teaching a political science class at Yale University
Born	Robert Alan Dahl (1915-12-17)December 17, 1915 Inwood, Iowa, U.S.
Died	February 5, 2014(2014-02-05) (aged 98) Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.
Spouses	Mary Louise Bartlett (1940–1970) Ann Sale (1973–2015)
Children	5
Awards	Johan Skytte Prize (1995)
Academic background
Education	University of Washington (B.A., 1936) Yale University (Ph.D., 1940)
Thesis	Socialist Programs and Democratic Politics: An Analysis
Academic advisors	Francis Coker Harvey Mansfield, Sr.
Influences	Elite theory Kenneth Arrow Léon Duguit James Coleman Carl Hempel
Academic work
Discipline	Political science
Sub-discipline	Political theory
Institutions	Yale University
Notable students	Catharine MacKinnon Guillermo O'Donnell Nelson Polsby Ian Shapiro Edward Tufte Ray Wolfinger James Fishkin
Main interests	Democracy, Democratization
Notable ideas	Polyarchy Pluralism
Influenced	Charles Lindblom Tom Malleson

Robert Alan Dahl (/dɑːl/; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University.

He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interest groups—and introduced "polyarchy" as a descriptor of actual democratic governance. An originator of "empirical theory" and known for advancing behavioralist characterizations of political power, Dahl's research focused on the nature of decision making in actual institutions, such as American cities.^[1][2] He is the most important scholar associated with the pluralist approach to describing and understanding both city and national power structures.^[3]

In addition to his work on the descriptive theory of democracy, he was long occupied with the formulation of the constituent elements of democracy considered as a theoretical but realizable ideal. By virtue of the cogency, clarity, and veracity of his portrayal of some of the key characteristics of realizable-ideal democracy, as well as his descriptive analysis of the dynamics of modern pluralist-democracy, he is considered one of the greatest theorists of democracy in history.