Politics and Power

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Politics and Power
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OPPOSING VIEWS, pair 1

• A narrower view
• politics as the art and science of GOVERNMENT,
  as affairs of STATE
• vs.
• A broader view
• politics as part of the entire fabric of SOCIAL
  RELATIONS conflicts and cooperation between
  individuals, groups, classes

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OPPOSING VIEWS,pair 2

• INTEGRATION. Politics as the process of rule
  based on order and justice. Politics is driven by
  the considerations of the common good.
• More natural for the thinking of those who
  support the existing social order (status quo)
• vs.
• CONFLICT. Politics as struggle for power.
  Politics is driven by selfish interests of
  individuals and groups.
• More natural for the thinking of those who would
  like to change the status quo in their favour.

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NOT EITHER OR, BUT BOTH AND

• 1. State AND society
• The state is rooted in society.
• The state maintains a particular social order.
• Politics outside the state is important.
• Interactions between state and society are at
  the core of politics.
• 2. Integration AND conflict

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SO, POLITICS IS
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• POLITICS IS
• A HUMAN ACTIVITY focused on
• 1/ the FORMULATION and EXECUTION of
• DECISIONS, which are BINDING on members of
• A SOCIAL WHOLE (family, community, society, the
  world)
• and
• 2/ the RELATIONS which are formed between
  individuals, groups, states IN THE PROCESS of
  formulation and execution of those decisions.
• See Larry Johnstons Politics, Broadview Press,
  1998, p. 16

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• Maurice Duverger, The Idea of Politics
• In the last resort, the essence of politics,
  its real nature and true significance, is to be
  found in the fact that it is always and at all
  times ambivalent. The statue of Janus, the
  two-faced god, is the true image of the state and
  expresses the most profound of political
  realities

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Janus
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• The state and in a more general way,
  organized power in any society is always and at
  all times both the instrument by which certain
  groups dominate others, an instrument used in the
  interest of the rulers and to the disadvantage of
  the ruled, - and also a means of ensuring a
  particular social order, of achieving some
  integration of the individual and the
  collectivity for the general good

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• The two elements always co-exist, though the
  importance of each varies with the period, the
  circumstances, and the country concerned

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• The relations between conflict and integration
  are, moreover, complex. Every attack on the
  existing social order implies the image of a
  superior, more authentic order. Every conflict
  implies a dream of integration and represents an
  effort to bring it into being

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• Many thinkers maintain that conflict and
  integration are not two opposed faces but one and
  the same overall process in which conflict
  naturally produces integration, and divisions, by
  their development, tend naturally toward their
  own suppression leading to the coming of the city
  of harmony.
• The Idea of Politics, L. Methuen, 1966, p.viii

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• The word politics comes from ancient Greece.
• Its root is the word polis, which began to be
  used about 2,800 years ago to denote a
  self-governing city
• POLIS city-state
• POLITES citizen
• POLITIKOS politician
• POLITIKE politics as the art of citizenship and
  government
• POLITEIA constitution, rules of politics
• POLITEUMA political community, all those with
  full political rights (excludes women, slaves,
  and foreign residents)
• For more information on polis, go to
• Polis

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The Acropolis, Athens
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(No Transcript)
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• There is a city called Polis in the northern part
  of the Island of Cyprus
• http//www.polis-municipality-cyprus.com/

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Power

• The fuel of politics. The ability to make, or to
  influence the making of,
• those binding decisions
• Struggle for power
• Distribution of power how fair? how equal? how
  effective?
• Balance of power
• Great power, superpower, hyperpower
• A powerful leader
• Something you can measure?

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Power is the ability to affect the actions or
ideas of others, despite resistance. It is thus a
dynamic process, not a static possession, that
pervades all areas of social life. (from Marvin
Olson and Marvin Marger, Power in Social
Organizations) Power, in one useful sense, is a
relation between two or more human wills, in
which one will can for some purposes effectively
control the other will or set of wills. The idea
of control implies the possibility of freedom
from control (of independence), and hence of
regret at loss of independence (at succumbing to
alien control). (John Dunn, The Cunning of
Unreason. Making Sense of Politics, Basic Books,
2000, p.75)
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• INFLUENCE use of power (or power exertion) with
  an uncertain outcome
• CONTROL use of power with a more or less
  certain outcome
• DOMINATION structured, stable patterns of power

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TYPES OF POWER POLITICAL POWER control of, or
influence on, the state, ability to make, or
influence, political decisions ECONOMIC POWER
control of economic assets MILITARY POWER
ability to wage war or to compel others
through intimidation or deterrence These forms
of power interact in many ways. GIVE ME
EXAMPLES!
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Characteristics of power
1. AN INTERACTIVE PROCESS (you have to have
someone to have power over) 2. POTENTIAL or
ACTIVE 3. A PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY 4. PROMOTIVE (Do
it!) or PREVENTIVE (Dont do it!) 5. BALANCED or
UNBALANCED (Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Lord Acton). Democracy (ideally) as balanced
power
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Forms of Social Power
1. FORCE ability to compel through punishment
or reward 1/utilitarian lets make a deal,
or else 2/coercive you are under
arrest 3/persuasive it is really in your own
interest to obey 2. DOMINANCE ability to
compel on a regular, systematic basis. They have
the power, we cant do anything but obey
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3. AUTHORITY power that is seen as just and
lawful. Power which is voluntarily granted by
those who submit to it. LEGITIMATE power TYPES OF
LEGITIMACY (Max Weber, Politics as a
Vocation) TRADITIONAL based on tradition,
established beliefs or values (example rule of
dynasties, power of the church) LEGAL-RATIONAL
based on formal arrangements (rules, laws,
constitutions). The main type practiced in
contemporary politics CHARISMATIC based on
the extraordinary personal qualities of a leader,
or on the influence of an idea or a cause from
ancient Greek word charisma, meaning gift
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4. ATTRACTION the power of appeal, ability to
influence others by making a positive impression
on them.
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• Information as a power resource
• Knowledge is power Francis Bacon
• From the printing press to the Internet
• The Information Revolution
• The Information Age
• The new role of information in our lives in our
  economy, social relations, politics as a result
  of rapid development of ICT (information and
  communication technologies) in the past 3 decades

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• Access to information
• Management of information
• Control of information
• Controlling people through their minds
• Values, ideas, the daily information flow
• Religion, education, propaganda, mass media
• The power of discourse
• The information battleground how controllable
  are we?
• Can you fool all the people all the time?

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EXERCISE OF POWER 1. POSSESSING or having
ACCESS to RESOURCES -tangible, like money,
property, goods, people, weapons, -or intangible,
like information, skills, roles, legitimacy,
reputation, appeal 2. COMMITTING resources to a
particular situation 3. CONVERTING committed
resources into power action 4. OVERCOMING
RESISTANCE
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SO, WHERE DOES POWER COME FROM, ULTIMATELY? Mao
Zedong Political power comes from the barrel of
a gun The Bible The power that worketh in
us Power is produced by social cooperation.
Ultimately, it is a collective product. We create
power by acting together. The problem is that
this product is usually grabbed by the few and
used at the expense of, or downright against, the
many.
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Five Major Fields of Political Science POLITICAL
THEORY COMPARATIVE WORLD POLITICS INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS (IR) EMPIRICAL THEORY AND
METHODOLOGY (In Canada) CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AND
POLITICS