In Democracy and Its Critics (1989), his magisterial defense of democracy, Dahl addressed the tension between democratic ideals and the realities of nation-states. He outlined criteria for a democratic process (effective participation, voting equality, enlightened understanding, control of the agenda, inclusion) and then asked: can large, capitalist, unequal societies meet them? His answer was cautiously optimistic but insisted on institutional reforms.
Dahl famously defined power as the ability to get someone to do something they would not otherwise do. In Who Governs? , he studied power by examining who prevailed on key decisions (the "decision-making approach"). Later critics (notably Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz) argued Dahl ignored "non-decisions" – the ability to keep issues off the agenda entirely. Dahl acknowledged this limitation, refining his thinking in later work. robert a. dahl