Description
Book SynopsisCertainly, to that minority of scholars whose conceptions of politics do include ‘power’ as an indispensable basic concept, the approaches of the vast majority of their colleagues for whom, as their answers in the survey reveal, ‘power’ does not play an eminent role must appear, in an 3 important sense, mistaken or perhaps even incomprehensible.
Trade Review"Exact but not exacting, this is a fine work of overview and analysis; it makes an excellent contribution to the literature on power and freedom." (Philip Pettit, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University)
"In this work, the author assumes the task of a ‘logical clean-up’ – an extremely valuable contribution to the promotion of scientific rigour and clarity in political scholarship." [This book] "gives the reader orientation in a conceptual jungle." [It is] "an excellent analysis of the relationships between normative and social power." (Ernesto Garzón Valdés, Prof. em. of Legal Philosophy, President of The Tampere Club)
"A genuinely pioneering contribution insofar as the author – to my knowledge: for the first time ever – succeeds in giving a conceptually rather clear profile to a descriptive-analytic and normative understanding of the phenomenon of influence and in elucidating – again, by way of thorough and profound analysis – that this is much more than an academic glass-bead game, because our understanding of such essential normative foundations of political theory as freedom and equality is inextricably linked to the concepts of power and influence, and because this is the only way how we can come to see the fundamental obstacles to a coherent interpretation and institutional realization of the idea of the democratic Rechtsstaat." (Rainer Schmalz-Bruns, Prof. of Political Theory, Darmstadt University of Technology)
Table of ContentsPart I. Concepts Taken Apart.- Chapter 1. The Concept of Power.- 1. The ‘essential contestedness’ issue 1. Conceptual vagueness and ambiguity. Value-dependence. A pragmatic objection. An epistemological objection. The simple inconsistency objection. The sophisticated inconsistency objection. The unfoundedness objection. Value-dependence examined. 2. Conceptions of power 1. Sociological conceptions: from Max Weber to Steven Lukes. A Philosophical Conception: Hartmut Kliemt. An economic conception: Brian Barry. 3. Conclusions 1. A classificatory framework. The question of causation. Cutting through the jungle. Chapter 2. The Concept of Influence.- 1. Distinguishing influence from power: General remarks. 2. The power-as-ability-to-influence view.- Excursus: The concept of influence in social-psychological scholarship 3. The sanction-based distinction: Lasswell and Kaplan. The intention-based distinction: Dennis Wrong 5. The normativity-based distinction: Ingmar Pörn . Assorted other views. 7. A subject-centered view: Mokken and Stokman. 8. A tentative proposal. Part II. Concepts put Together.- Chapter 3. Power and Freedom.- 1. Felix Oppenheim 1. The relationship between freedom and power. Discussion. Conclusion. 2. Philip Pettit 1. The relationship between freedom and power. Discussion. Conclusion 3. Kristján Kristjánsson 1. The relationship between freedom and power. Discussion. Conclusion 4. Conclusions. Chapter 4. Social Power and Legal Power.- 1. Introduction. 2. Distinguishing the two kinds of power 1. Normative or legal power. Social power. 3. Political power at the crossroads of legal and social power. 4. On justifying political power 5. Conclusion. Chapter 5. Influence and Power: A Mess Transformed?- References.- Index of names
