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Journal ArticleDOI

The concept of power

Robert A. Dahl
- 17 Jan 2007 - 
- Vol. 2, Iss: 3, pp 201-215
TLDR
In this paper, the concept of power is defined in terms of a relation between people, and is expressed in simple symbolic notation, and a statement of power comparability is developed, or the relative degree of power held by two or more persons.
Abstract
What is “power”? Most people have an intuitive notion of what it means. But scientists have not yet formulated a statement of the concept of power that is rigorous enough to be of use in the systematic study of this important social phenomenon. Power is here defined in terms of a relation between people, and is expressed in simple symbolic notation. From this definition is developed a statement of power comparability, or the relative degree of power held by two or more persons. With these concepts it is possible for example, to rank members of the United States Senate according to their “power” over legislation on foreign policy and on tax and fiscal policy.

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Citations
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Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts

TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of stakeholder identification and saliency based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes (power, legitimacy, and urgency) is proposed, and a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their saliency to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
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Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics

TL;DR: The debate between realists and liberals has reemerged as an axis of contention in international relations theory as mentioned in this paper, and the debate is more concerned today with the extent to which state action is influenced by "structure" versus "process" and institutions.
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The Empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice

TL;DR: The authors provided an analytical treatment of the construct and integrated the diverse approaches to empowerment found in both the management and psychology literatures, identifying certain antecedent conditions of powerlessness and practices that have been hypothesized to empower subordinates.
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Networks: Between Markets and Hierarchies

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of network management in international operations and in industrial and services marketing, especially in the context of non-profit agencies, and propose an alternative between the open market and the internalization of activity.
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Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics

TL;DR: The authors reformulates liberal international relations (IR) theory in a nonideological and nonutopian form appropriate to empirical social science and demonstrates that the existence of a coherent liberal theory has significant theoretical, methodological, and empirical implications.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

A Method for Evaluating the Distribution of Power in a Committee System

TL;DR: The method of measuring power, based on a technique of the mathematical theory of games, is presented here to a number of illustrative cases, including the United States Congress, and is intended as a first step in the attack on these problems.
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A formal theory of social power.

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Notes on the Observation and Measurement of Political Power

TL;DR: In this article, it was argued that the empirical truth or falsity of such propositions is to be tested, and that there must be agreement as to the operational definition of the term "power" and the operational means that are to be used to determine the degree of its presence or absence in any situation.
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An Introduction to the Theory and Measurement of Influence

TL;DR: The science of politics is a science of human behavior as mentioned in this paper, which concerns itself with a specific segment of the activities of humans, those which either take place in, or have a clearly discernible effect upon, the formal governmental machinery of the community.
Journal ArticleDOI

Measurement Concepts in the Theory of Influence

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an explication of the basic measurement concepts in the theory of influence and some indication of how indices designed to deal with specific empirical situations can be constructed on the basis of the formal concepts.
Trending Questions (2)
How is power defined in simple terms?

Power is defined as a relation between people, expressed in symbolic notation, allowing for the comparison of power levels among individuals, such as ranking senators based on legislative influence.

How is power defined?

Power is defined as a relation between people, expressed in symbolic notation. It allows for comparing the relative degree of power held by individuals, enabling ranking based on legislative influence.