Civil Rights In America Essay

The early 1960’s marked an imperative period in the history of the United States as the African Americans struggled for equal rights through the civil rights movements. Black Americans faced social, racial segregation and were also deprived constitutional rights of voting in the U.S. This struggle can be explained through various models and theories explaining the political and social structures such as the rules of the majority and minority. This paper seeks to explore different theories and models that can be used in explaining the civil rights movement and determine the most appropriate.
The Madison democracy in the United States, involved protection of both majority and minority rights and duties as equals. The model entails a composite democracy that embraces majority democracy in some of the regions and protect the minorities in other areas. Madison democracy allows checks to be put in place so that tyranny and abuse of power can be prevented. Separation of powers entails a significant procedure in the Madison model. A democratic nation is obliged to have a clear cut separation of powers to facilitate the minimization of the tyrannical rule of the majority.
The civil rights struggle in demand for equal rights and freedom among all Americans of different races was of significance in the United States. Madison model helped activists in the fight for equality, in the US, in a myriad of ways. For instance, the idea of separation of powers brought about by the Madison democracy was a significant boost to the struggle for equality in America by the civil movements. The civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, ardently demanded of a nation free of race segregation, constitutional voting rights and equality among all the Americans.
According to the elite theory, the minority tends to make some influential decisions in concert with the government. The elite group has strong connections in the most powerful organizations and corporations in the state. Therefore, government decisions tend to, significantly, affect their performance. According to the theory, the minority influence government decisions through the formation of interlocking directorates. In this case, the minority will act in a group with objectives to protect their class, prestige and reputation. The elite form a small proportion of the entire population, though they make significant decisions. The civil rights movements were aimed at preventing such groups from subjecting influence to government decisions.
According to the pluralism theory, the central government makes the core decisions though some nongovernmental organizations tend to exert influence on the decisions. Pluralism theory tends to act in accordance with democratic rights and equality of all individuals in the society. Accordingly, the pluralism offers an equal opportunity for all individuals in the society without discrimination and racial segregation. Therefore, the civil rights activists pushed for this democratic rule in order to prevent black American discrimination.
The hyper pluralist theory, on the other hand, describes a situation where there is a lot of influence from groups that the government is ultimately weakened. This theory stipulates that all citizens are equal and thus should be treated the same despite racial ethnicity and color. Nonetheless, it is accompanied by a myriad of challenges since many groups are invited to make decisions. The hyper pluralist theory creates conflicts due to diversity thus weakening the government.
According to the mentioned theories, the pluralist theory can suitably fit into the political and democratic aspects of the United States. The theory suggests that the government makes the core decisions with minimal influence of nongovernmental organizations. Therefore, it is clear that the pluralist theory explicitly explains the American democracy.