What is power in political science  Pdf

What is power? Power and politics have been central to the human experience as long as we have had organized societies. There are innumerable academic and quantitative texts out there that try to explain power in political science. This book picks apart this question in a clear, concise, and digestible way for anyone to understand.

This eBook gives you a general understanding of power in political science, its relevance, and examples from contemporary politics to help clarify the term. The chapter on types of power is based on Roman Founding’s Power in International Politics textbook.

Power is a means of producing political change. It can be defined as the ability to produce intended effects by exerting pressure on people or resources. A lack of power causes a system to fail or deviate from an accepted norm. Power in social sciences is the capacity of an individual actor to influence others, while power in political science is the capacity of governing and 4orce to influence other actors within the international system. Many have made the distinction between “power” and “influence”, with power being measured as the potential for influence (or action), and influence being defined as the outcome.