Topic > The Dangerous Side of Power

Power has many definitions. If we look at some of the definitions within political science, there are six definitions of power. First of all there is physical strength and the capacity for violence, control of the means of force, power is in its original form. The second definition is wealth. Money creates the ability to buy results and to buy almost any other kind of power. The third form of power is state action. This is the use of law and bureaucracy to force people to do or not do certain things. For example, in a democracy people give the government power through elections. In a dictatorship, state power emerges from the threat of force and not from the consent of the people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe fourth type of power is social norms. The rules do not have the centralized machinery of government. They operate in a softer, peer to peer way. They can certainly get people to change behavior and even change laws. The fifth form of power is ideas. An idea of ​​individual freedom or racial equality can generate unlimited amounts of power. If it motivates enough people to change their thinking and actions. And six sources of power are the number of people. A noisy mass of people creates power by expressing the collective intensity of interest and asserting legitimacy. If we study power, we need to know Nye's definition of “power.” According to him, it is the ability to influence the behavior of others to achieve desired results. He argued that there are three ways to exercise power: coerce through threats, induce behavioral change with payments, or attract and co-opt. The first two, coercion and incentive through payment, are forms of hard power; Soft power is the ability to achieve the results offered through attraction. In other words, it is the ability to attract through co-optation rather than coercion, using force or donating money as a means of persuasion. According to Nye, the main elements of a country's soft power include its culture, values ​​and policies. However, he also pointed out that the passive use of military and economic resources can sometimes be used to attract, just as their active use can be a means to coercion, implying that different resources can also contribute to soft power. Recently, the term has also been used to change and influence public and social opinion through relatively less transparent channels and to exert pressure through powerful political and non-political organizations. In 2012, Nye explained that with soft power “the best propaganda is not propaganda,” further explaining that during the information age “credibility is the scarcest resource.” Joseph Nye coined the term in a 1990 book, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. In this book he writes: “When a country convinces other countries to want what it wants, one might speak of co-optive power or soft power in contrast to hard or command power of ordering others to do what it wants. He developed the concept further in his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The term is now widely used in international affairs by analysts and statisticians. For example, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates spoke of the need to strengthen American Soft Power through “a dramatic increase in spending on civilian tools of national security,.