Political Power

Power: the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions. Authority:the right to use power. Legitimacy:political authority conferred by law or by a state or national constitution.

Who Has All 3 Aspects?

Direct Democracy All or most citizens participate directly.

Representative Democracy Leaders make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote

There are 4 views of who governs… The Marxist View The Power Elite View The Bureaucratic View The Pluralist View

Marxism Karl Marx Government is a reflection of underlying economic forces. Capitalists vs. workers In the U.S. large corporations hold power.

Power Elite C. Wright Mills Control emanates from elites – a group of people who possess a disproportionate share of a valuable resource. Corporate leaders, top military officers, handful of elected officials, major media chiefs, top labor union officials, heads of various special interest groups.

Bureaucratic View Max Weber It doesn’t matter who makes the laws, large government agencies and the people who work there actually operate the government on a daily basis.

Pluralism No single founder. Political resources (money, prestige, expertise, organizational position, access to the media) are so scattered that no single group of elites has a monopoly on them. These resources are distributed unequally. There are so many different government institutions at every level of government that no single group could dominate the entire political process.