Created for Leaders of United Workers Campaigns An Overview of John Gaventa’s Powercube Part 3 Levels: Global, National, Local Created for Leaders of United Workers Campaigns

The Levels of Power: Global, National, Local

Supranational Level Globalisation and new forms of global governance have created a wide array of formal and informal, state and non-state spaces for participation and influence at levels beyond the nation-state.” --Gaventa, p. 21

National Level Includes national legislatures, courts, and political parties. -- Gaventa, p. 21

Sub-National Level State and municipal level decision-making bodies – state legislatures, county councils, city councils, regional bodies, and entities like Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee. And even more local – such as neighborhood decision-making bodies, even governance of apartment buildings, shelters or other communal land – cooperatives, CLT’s as well. -- Gaventa, p. 21

A Continuum of Levels -- Gaventa, p. 21 Supranational Level: “Globalisation and new forms of global governance have created a wide array of formal and informal, state and non-state spaces for participation and influence at levels beyond the nation-state.” (pg. 21) National Level: Includes national legislatures, courts, and political parties. Sub-National level: state and municipal level decision-making bodies – state legislatures, county councils, city councils, regional bodies, and entities like Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee. And even more local – such as neighborhood decision-making bodies, even governance of apartment buildings, shelters or other communal land – cooperatives, CLT’s as well. -- Gaventa, p. 21

What global forces shape our work? Discussion Points What global forces shape our work? What national forces shape our work? What local forces shape our work?

For the sake of simplicity, Gaventa only describes three levels (Global, National and Local) of power. An organization in Colombia listed the following ten levels of power that affected their own work: International National Departmental Sub-regional Municipal Communal Vereda/barrio Comunitarian

Name 10 nuanced levels of participation that affect our work. Discussion Points Name 10 nuanced levels of participation that affect our work.

How do we hold power on a global, national and local level? Discussion Points How do we hold power on a global, national and local level?

Linking Power Vertically “While one approach to understanding power focuses on the different levels of power, others focus on their interaction. In this approach, while appearing fixed in this diagram, this vertical dimension of power should also be seen not as a fixed set of categories, but as a flexible, adaptable continuum, in which each layer interacts with the other, sometimes opening and other times closing opportunities for action.” --Gaventa, p. 23

Discussion Points How do two different levels of power interact in the work of the United Workers?

Challenges for working across the interrelationship of the spaces, places and forms of power “While one approach to understanding power focuses on the different levels of power, others focus on their interaction. In this approach, while appearing fixed in this diagram, this vertical dimension of power should also be seen not as a fixed set of categories, but as a flexible, adaptable continuum, in which each layer interacts with the other, sometimes opening and other times closing opportunities for action.” --Gaventa, p. 23

Key Premise of the PowerCube: “Transformative, fundamental change happens, we suggest, in those rare moments when social movements or social actors are able to work effectively across each of the dimensions simultaneously, i.e. when they are able to link the demands for opening previously closed spaces with people‘s action in their own spaces; to span across local and global action, and to challenge visible, hidden, and invisible power simultaneously. Successful change requires thinking not only about strategies along one dimension of the power cube but also about how each dimension relates to the other” (p 25).

“…those seeking not only to influence policies in the public arena, but also to change power relations more fundamentally, must simultaneously think about winning the issue, mobilising to broaden the political space, and building awareness of those who are excluded. Rather than any single strategy, an ensemble of strategies, which work together and not against each other, are required to fully challenge these sets of power relationships.” (pg 25)