Power

• Power

• Political and economic systems intertwined

  • Political system

• Power: ability to exercise one’s will over others (Weber)

• Sources of power in political systems:

  • Force

    • Actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one’s will on others

  • Influence

    • exercise of power through process of persuasion

  • Authority

    • institutionalized power recognized by the people over whom it is exercised

Types of Authority

• Traditional authority

  • legitimate power conferred by custom and accepted practice

• Ratioal-legal authority

  • power made legitimate by law

• Charismatic authority

  • power made legitimate by leader’s exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers

Types of Government

Models of Power structure

Power Elite Models

• Elite model: society ruled by small group of individuals who share common set of

Pluralist Model

• Pluralist model: competing groups within community have access to government, so no single group can dominate

  • Variety of groups play significant roles in decisions

• Fails to address potential power of elites to keep matters out of goverment debate