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Political power is a type of power held by a person or group in a society. There are many ways to hold such power. Officially, political power is held by the political leader of a state, such as a president, prime minister, or monarch. Political powers are not limited to heads of states, however, and the extent to which a person or group holds such power is related to the amount of societal influence they can wield, formally or informally. In many cases this influence is not contained within a single state and we talk of international power. Traditionally, political power has been built up and maintained through the exercise of military power, the accumulation of wealth, and the acquisition of knowledge. According to Rae Langton (Fall 1993) "the ability to perform speech acts can be a measure of political power" (p.314) and "authority" (p.315) and "one mark of powerlessness is an inability to perform speech acts that one might otherwise like to perform." (p.314)
Throughout history there have been many examples of the destructive or senseless use of political power (see abuse of power ). This has happened most frequently when too much power has been concentrated in too few hands, without enough room for political debate, public criticism, and other types of correctives. Examples of such regimes are despotism, tyranny, and dictatorshipBenito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler were two of the 20th century's most notorious dictators. A dictatorship is a government headed by a dictator or more generally any authoritarian or totalitarian government. It is considered to be the polar opposite of a d. To counter these potential problems, people have devised and practised different solutions, most of them related to the sharing of power (as in democracyA democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies with the voting citizenry (referred to as "the people", because in modern times it usually consists of all people over 18 years of age), and all), the placing of limitations on the extent of power one individual or group can have, and the creation of protective rights for individuals through legislation or charters (such as human rightsHuman rights natural rights are rights which some hold to be "inalienable" and belonging to all humans, according to natural law. Such rights are believed, by proponents, to be necessary for freedom and the maintenance of a " reasonable" quality of life.).
Charles de Montesquieu claimed that without following a principle of containing and balancing legislative, executive and judiciary powers, there is no freedom and no protection against abuse of power. This is the separation of powersSeparation of powers is the idea that the powers of a sovereign government should be split between two or more strongly independent entities, preventing any one person or group from gaining too much power. The three-branch theory The concept of the separa principle.
Source
- Langton, Rae (Fall 1993). "Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts", Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 22: no.4, p.293-330
