Bases of Power

A detailed Summary of Bases of Power

Power is the ability of one person, group or nation to control another person, group or nation. It is the ability to tell them what to do and what not to do. Power may involve force, persuasion or rewards. Power also always involves a relationship. According to one of the founders of political science, Max Weber, power is the capabilities to have one's way in a relationship, even against the will of others. However, no person in a relationship always has all the power, and no person in a relationship always has no power. Power itself does not come in a lump; it is not one single thing. Instead, power is made up of 8.5 things, and these 8.5 things are what we call 'the bases of power'. Below is a list of the 8.5 bases of power:

3) authority 4) knowledge/technology/information

7) size/solidarity 8) violence

According to Karl Marx, another founder of political science, money is the only base of power. He said that with money, you could buy everything else. However, it has come to be accepted that money can buy everything except charisma and solidarity. For that reason, I have chosen charis

ma, solidarity and money as the three bases of power that I would most like to have.

Second on my list of bases of power is solidarity. Supposing I do get elected into office, it would be a huge bonus to have the entire population on my side. Having a unified nation supporting my actions would make my job so much easier as opposed to having protests and divisions in rank hindering my aim of taking the country to greater heights. It is also a known fact that having a sizable population is essential to the nation's chances of becoming a super-power. There is little chance of a tiny nation like Singapore becoming a super-power, capable of causing threat to the entire world. The nation would need a population of at least 50 million to be considered big enough to pose a threat and be taken seriously.

First on my list of bases of power is charisma. Charisma is defined as being the natural ability to influence another's behavior. It is generally accepted that a person cannot train or learn to be charismatic, he is either born with it or without it. A charismatic person can get someone to like him and support him regardless of whether they agree with his actions or not. An example of this would be former President Bill Clinton. Despite knowing that he had cheated on his wife with Gennifer Flowers, the public nevertheless was swept off their feet by his charm and voted him into the presidency. And when he got caught cheating once again, this time with White Hous

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Category: Politics