Conclusions

Abstract

Neither of the two dominant models purporting to explain policy-making in the United States is applicable to the test ban treaty or to similar types of foreign and national security issues which are highly technical but which also stimulate considerable political activity.¹ The pluralist model emphasizes group activity and the dispersal of power while the elite model focuses on the concentration of power in the hands of an interlocking clique who are not accountable to the public.² Activity by individuals, groups, and the mass media does not indicate that the pluralist model is operating because these non-governmental participants may not penetrate the decision-making system. Nevertheless because linkages between nongovernmental participants and official decision-makers are difficult to locate, it is not logical to conclude that an elite necessarily decides all major issues.³