As a politically neutral concept, polyarchy refers to the situation of global political governance without a dominant structure of cooperation and conflict characteristic of the current global society, in which nation-states, subnational groups, and transnational special interest and communities are all vying for the support and loyalty of individuals and conflicts need to be resolved primarily on the basis of ad hoc bargaining among combinations of those groups that vary from issue to issue. In the polyarchic system, world politics is no longer essentially "international" politics, where who gets what, when and how is determined on the basis of bargaining and fighting among the nation-states; rather, the international system is now seen as one of subsystems of a larger and more complex field of relationships.

However, Polyarchy has evolved also into an activist concept to refer to the rule by the many and in this sense serves as a philosophical alternative to "liberal democracy." The assumption is that genuine unity is an impossible ideal and that rule by the many may be accomplished through multiple elites representing distinct communities in a polity. Polyarchists believe that conflict is best met with dialogue rather than with resort to the arbitrary coercive power of superior authority.

Polyarchism is sometimes compared with corporatism and consociational democracy generally and with pillarization verzuiling in the Netherlands (Governance and Politics in the Netherlands pp. 21-31). Adding to the conceptual imprecision are descriptions of polyarchy like that of Mark Curtis, who asserts that, "Polyarchy is generally what British leaders mean when they speak of promoting 'democracy' abroad. This is a system in which a small group actually rules and mass participation is confined to choosing leaders in elections managed by competing elites." (Web of Deceit, p. 247)

Citations

• Rudy B. Andeweg and Galen W. Irwin . 2002. Governance and Politics of the Netherlands. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 0333961560.
• Seyom Brown, New Forces, Old Forces, and the Future of World Politics. Glenview, Il.: Scott Foresman, 1988.
• Charles Blattberg . 2003. Shall We Dance? A Patriotic Politics for Canada. Montreal & Kingston; McGill-Queens's University Press. ISBN 0773525475 (cloth); ISBN 0773525963 (paper).
• Mark Curtis. 2003. Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World. London: Vintage UK Random House. ISBN 009448394.
• Robert A. Dahl. 1956. A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226134252 (paper).
• James N. Rosenau & Ernst-Otto Czempiel (1992), Governance without Governemnt: Order and Change in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.