Research Paper on:
Power and Democracy in America by Drucker, et al.

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of governance are sufficiently flexible to accommodate the exponential increase that the US government experienced in the twentieth century. The symposium participants were Professors Peter Drucker, Delbert Miller and Robert  Dahl and the discussion, which took place in the early 1960s, was moderated by Professor Howard J. Ehrlich. The text consists of papers that were first delivered at this  panel discussion. An overall examination of these essays demonstrates that, although more than four decades have passed since this texts publication, the basic issues that the authors address are not  only still applicable, but even more relevant to the present world situation. The first essay in the collection is by Drucker and entitled "Individual Freedom and Effective Government in a  Society of Super-Power." Professor Drucker, first of all, puts the political climate of the twentieth century in prospective against the backdrop of history, which highlights the tremendous degree of  change that has occurred in the world since 1900, particularly in regards to the structure and dynamics of American society as a whole. In 1900 only one out of every  hundred or so Americans was on the government payroll. Today, excluding teachers, who are by far the most largest single employee group among government employees, one out of every four  citizens is a working for a government, local, state or federal (Drucker 7). After this introduction, Drucker goes to the heart of his argument, which is the effect of  the rapid sociological expansion in the twentieth century on federal and local levels of government. In so doing, Drucker addresses how to restore effectiveness to government. In this regard, Drucker  is interested in both domestic and international government, but his main focus is on domestic, particularly local, government. He argues that local government is still predicated on the Greek polis