POWER & POLITICS

Power & Politics



Table of Contents

Introduction to power1

Power: A Radical View2

One-dimensional view of power3

Two-dimensional view of power4

Three-dimensional view of power6

Dimensional Analysis: Which fits best?6

Exercising Political Power: Ronald Reagen8

Conclusion9

References11

Power & Politics

Introduction to power

"Power serves to create power. Powerlessness serves to re-enforce powerlessness"(Gaventa, 1980, p. 256).

Most definitions of politics involve power. Political power is generally defined as the extent to which one has the ability to influence the outcomes. International interactions have predominantly had some implication for politics. This is the reason why power has been in the international discussion from the times of Thucydides. Despite of having long discussions on the topic of power, it seems that no consensus has been withdrawn from them. Various scholars have presented their viewpoints on the approaches and dimensions of power.

Scholars not only differ in the role of powers but also in the nature of power. According to Waltz (1986, 333), power is undoubtedly a significant concept in realist theories of international politics, but its proper definition is still a matter of controversy. Robert Gilpin (1981, pp 13) explicate power as 'one of the most troublesome in the field of international relations' and suggests that these differing definitions must be regarded as an insult for the political scientists. Dahl (1957, 201) presented another definition of power that it is the potential to make some do the work which he would not have done otherwise.

Steven Lukes (1986) has devoted attention to the dimensions of power and scoured the thoughts of political philosophers and theorists about them. He formulates power into three dimensions from the most to the least visible. The most visible is A's ability to have B do X as we have seen. The second dimension builds upon the work of Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz (1962, p. 950). In this dimension, power controls the agenda of decision making, prevents decisions (or promotes non decision making), and mobilizes the biases of the system—the symbols, myths, and rituals we discussed above and present in the chapter on civil religion—to promote and prevent certain courses of action. A limits the capacity of B to do Y instead of X.

The third dimension of power Lukes (1986, p 9-10) proposes operates to shape and modify the public's wants and needs, desires and beliefs. For Lukes, power always benefits the powerful, and the powerful are those who benefit most from the social and economic arrangements and outcomes of political institutions and processes. This is explicit in the two questions he poses about power: Who can adversely affect the interests of whom? Who can control whom or who can limit the freedom of whom? Thus, Lukes brings together the ideas of Arendt and Weber.

Power: A Radical View

Steven Lukes (1974) in his book 'Power: A radical View' gave a new definition to the word power. It answers different questions related to power such as how a powerful person manages to get compliance of the ones he rules over, and how does he manage to get this compliance in ...