Power is best understood as pursuing freely chosen ends, towards which our actions are oriented and are then commanding the necessary means towards the pursuit of those ends. Power, therefore, is an enabling capacity. The more power one has, the wider is their range of choices that they may realistically pursue (Bauman & May 2001). Bauman & May notes, “To have power, among other things, means to be able to decide what is not important and what should not matter or concern” (120). This definition of power by Zygmunt Bauman and Tim May was chosen because it best relates to the circumstances in The Hunger Games, in which President Coriolanus Snow possesses power over the Capitol and other districts. He is also the leader of the decision makers
Power is not an object, nor is it a verb. It is a feeling. An action. Power can both destroy and save lives. Power is “the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.” Today, this “ability” is being abused by those who have this privilege. Boss tweed once said “The way to have power is to take it.” There are many different ways in which it is being abused and many people who are abusing it. I will discuss how power is being abused through political leaders, military officers, and life-to-life people.
Undoubtedly, The President is the furthermost known person in a country due to the position he occupies and many times his actual power has been questioned. Two distinct perspectives arose to describe the president’s power as persuasion and unilateral power.
Casablanca is one the classic Hollywood movie which is one of the most critically acclaimed Hollywood movies of all time and also very famous. Casablanca is a romance story that happens during World War II but the question is does it end there? Is Casablanca just a Romance movie? In this essay, I will be discussing how the movie Casablanca which is one of the most famous and critically acclaimed films of all time is a propaganda movie and what message is sending and the effects that propaganda movies make and why it’s important for governments.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins are two texts written ¬centuries apart but with very similar concepts of power. In Macbeth, power is held by Macbeth while in The Hunger Games power is held by President Snow. Both of these characters are heads of totalitarian societies and used force to control anyone who opposed them. Macbeth and President Snow lead with absolute power which lead to both leaders became paranoid, scared that there power would be removed from them.
Power is often the root at which conflicts begin. As those on the bottom attempt to gain power and those at the top of the power dynamic attempt to consistently degrade those below them to prevent them from gaining influence. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the surprise, seemingly societally transcendent, ability for Othello to gain power and Othello to be able to marry Desdemona, is immediately followed by those in power trying to relieve Othello of his role in society, leading Othello to even attempt to exert his own power. The powerful men of Othello attempt to destroy and subjugate the lives of others to prevent them from advancing and maintaining power.
When in the wrong hands, power can be used as a weapon to exploit and belittle others. If power is misused, it usually leads to dire consequents, like in A Thousand Splendid Suns, where two women fall victim to those who control them. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini proves that once a person is promoted to a place of authority, he or she will inevitably become corrupted by the power that he or she holds.
Power and influence in society have a huge impact on the way things happen and affects perception. A prime example is the power that presidents and prime ministers have. Given this power they can effectively influence and persuade others. Power and influence is often associated with gender, conflict and roles and relationships. The importance of the power and influence can be thoroughly examined using texts that demonstrate ideas presented as truths. Some of these texts include, The Crucible, Macbeth, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and many more. The text being examined is The Crucible by Arthur Miller, set in Salem during the 1692 witch trials. The theme of the importance of name will become apparent by studying John Proctor and Abigail
Wendy Peterson, Vice - President of sales for Account/back’s Plano, Texas Office had concerns with one of her employees, Fred Wu. Fred Wu has landed one client within the Chinese market, the single largest client of the downtown office. However, there were disagreements between Peterson and Wu on several aspects. Moreover, Fed Wu requested for a personal assistant, which Peterson thought to be unreasonable. This is because only a small number of AccountBack’s most successful sales executive with numerous accounts had assistants of their own. This lead to dissatisfaction of Fred Wu, who decided to leave the organisation. Now, it is left to Peterson whether to cave into Wu’s demands or to fire him or to find an alternative solutions
Secondly, the symbological approach, which “views power as a product of communicative interactions and relationships” (Mumby, 2014). This means that power emerges through interactions between people or organizations and even so through their relationships, as power is a product of
Power can be translated to the “ability to influence others” (Agunis, Pierce, & Simonsen, 1998, p. 456). Barack Obama has influenced millions in his lifetime by taking the power he desires to have, from being an attorney, moving up to Illinois State Senator, to becoming a US President for two terms. While he was a Senator in 2004 he was invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention. In his Keynote Address, he expressed different bases of power as he spoke. The bases of power, as explained by Agunis, Pierce, and Simonsen, are reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert. Obama especially exercises three of the bases in his speech, as well as powerful talk. Referent power is considered to be the desire to be associated with the speaker, legitimate power is based off
Imagine you are in the forest collecting sticks and twigs in an attempt to create some sort of sturdy object or, pillar that can withstand outside forces trying the break them. A single stick would likely break if you were to grab each end and try to bend it. If you were to add another twig it would take more force to break but, you would still be able to snap the sticks in half. As the analogy goes, the more sticks you add, the harder it becomes to bend and break the bundle. The same type of situation seems to be emphasized in James Scott’s article “Everyday Forms of Resistance”, in which the main idea keeps calling attention to the everyday forms of resistance demonstrated by lower class; the powerless individuals. In the text, the author
Classical realism and structural realism are both theories of International Relations, therefore huge differences are noticed in between those two. The main difference lies in the motivation to power, which is seen differently by both theories. Classical realism is concentrated in the desire of power- influence, control and dominance as basic to human nature. Whereas, structural realism is focused on the international system anarchic structure and how the great powers behave. Classical realists believe that power is related to human nature, thus their analysis of individuals and states is similar. It believes that all individuals are born with an increasing desire to own power hardwired inside them. In these circumstances dominant states should do direct high power over their rivals. In the other hand, structural realism does not define the quest for power, instead it is focused on the structure of the international
Carl Schmitt’s claim that politics is fundamentally distinct from other spheres is persuasive on the premise that the core of politics consists on the friend/enemy theory with each side of the conflict posing a perceived existential threat of violence to one another. However, his argument is less persuasive when he uses this premise to critique liberalism because he does not provide an alternative solution to his criticism. Schmitt contends that, “the political must rest on its own ultimate distinction, [and] the specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is between friend and enemy” (Schmitt 26). Schmitt defines a political or public enemy as a collective group that poses an existential threat of violence, “the real possibility of physical killing” (Schmitt 33). Therefore Schmitt contends the political cannot exist without violence, or the threat/possibility of violence.
From past to present, many leaders, politicians, scientists, or even common peoplehave experienced and tasted the absolute power. At the very beginning of this ownership, everything seemed usual and innocent. However; it has been observed that people who have absolute power fell into error thinking that corruption of power would never give rise to their end. The objective of this essay is to examine the reasons behind two literary protagonists of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus’ downfall.The major characters of these two books and other real life cases show that how the notion of having absolute power ends up with catastrophe and destruction. Macbeth and Doctor Faustus illustrated different types of power: The first one is related to the political authority and the other one is connect to knowledge. The paper also highlights how these tragic downfalls stem from human weaknesses. We also examined how a common person could turn out to be a villain or how he