Bases of Power essays

Bases of Power essays Power is the ability of one person, group or nation to control another person, group or nation. It is the ability to tell them what to do and what not to do. Power may involve force, persuasion or rewards. Power also always involves a relationship. According to one of the founders of political science, Max Weber, power is the capabilities to have ones way in a relationship, even against the will of others. However, no person in a relationship always has all the power, and no person in a relationship always has no power. Power itself does not come in a lump; it is not one single thing. Instead, power is made up of 8.5 things, and these 8.5 things are what we call the bases of power. Below is a list of the 8.5 bases of power: 3) authority 4) knowledge/technology/information 7) size/solidarity 8) violence According to Karl Marx, another founder of political science, money is the only base of power. He said that with money, you could buy everything else. However, it has come to be accepted that money can buy everything except charisma and solidarity. For that reason, I have chosen charisma, solidarity and money as the three bases of power that I would most like to have. First on my list of bases of power is charisma. Charisma is defined as being the natural ability to influence anothers behavior. It is generally accepted that a person cannot train or learn to be charismatic, he is either born with it or without it. A charismatic person can get someone to like him and support him regardless of whether they agree with his actions or not. An example of this would be former President Bill Clinton. Despite knowing that he had cheated on his wife with Gennifer Flowers, the public nevertheless was swept off their feet by his charm and voted him into the presidency. And when he ...