Nondecisions and Power: The Two Faces of Bachrach and Baratz

Geoffrey Debnam

American Political Science Review, 1975, vol. 69, issue 3, 889-899

Abstract: The concept “nondecision” was advanced by Bachrach and Baratz as a means of identifying certain areas of community power neglected by reputational and issue analysis approaches. While it is descriptively suggestive of certain possible areas of neglect, it has not been shaped into a useful analytic tool, and does not make any demands which cannot be met by decision-making analysis. Its terms are, in fact, somewhat confused since it fails to differentiate between nondecisions brought about by covert control, and those which may be more generally atlributable to a mobilization of bias. These together seem to comprise what Bachrach and Baratz describe as the “second face of power,” which has been neglected, they argue, because of inadequate consideration of the meaning of power and related concepts. But their own approach to these does not aid empirical analysis. It simply encourages concern for the minutiae of political action, whereas the simplified view of power adopted here suggests the advantages of a contextual approach.

Date: 1975
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