The Politics Of Power By Ira Katznelson

In Power and Social Change, Richard Healy and Sandra Hinson explore the term power in social change between the world and people. The topic about power was interesting because there are two distinct perspective of power. The most common view of power is power-over. The less common view is power-within. In organizing for social justice, it is important to realize that using power-within will lead to successful achievement to instigate compliance of demands listed by the minorities. Furthermore, there are three criteria of power implement in organizing for social justice, which are direct political involvement, organizational infrastructure, and ideology with worldview. Each criterion plays an important role to the success of establishing a

In the 21st century, America faces various threats and challenges to its authority as a growing world power. These threats and challenges help define America’s role as a growing world power in the 21st century. As a large nation, America faces a plethora of issues and continues to compete against other world powers. America today is plagued with various economic, social, political, and military problems, with little or no simple or practical solutions available.

In the first essay Fear, Ambition, and Politics by Robert Dallek, he talks about the way that the United States started to really conflict with Vietnam and how some of Lyndon Johnson’s issues led the U.S. into it. One thing was clear and it was that Lyndon Johnson did not want communism to spread. Johnson’s advisors would continuously report to him that things were starting to become more serious in Saigon. Johnson did not want to send troops though, saying the he would “not permit the independent nations of the East to be swallowed up by Communist conquest, and it would not mean sending American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing themselves.” Clearly his word did not last though. Dallek seems to have a rather negative view of Johnson because he wasn’t taking the precautionary steps to prevent certain events, and he could not keep his word. Johnson seemed to disagree with his own actions about what we should do in Vietnam because it was so unpredictable. He did not want American involvement, but the pressure ended up getting the best of him. He sent one of his advisors, McGeorge Bundy, to Vietnam to talk about what we should do to help alleviate South Vietnam. Bundy thought that U.S. action was a must or “defeat would be inevitable and there is still time to turn it around.” Johnson then decided to start bombing the North on February 8th, but he was not pleased with having to make this decision. This is known as the Rolling

Authority is a primary source of power. For example, the more power someone has, the higher level of authority they more than likely are. The authoritarian use of power is more beneficial than most other forms of power. This is due in part to the fact that authoritarian power has a less cost than all other forms. Authoritarian power is much easier to use than other forms of power because it is expected and accepted by the people below the authority figure. The "three faces of power", an idea by Steven Lukes, states that different faces of power appear during decision making, non-decision making, and the ability to create perceptions about people without their awareness. The first face involves a forum, such as a government. The second face

For years America has been seen as the world’s hero swooping in and saving the day from foreign bad guys, or at least that’s America sees itself as. To many other countries however America is often seen as the world’s bully or just a nuisance. The United States has had many positive impacts on the world and those seem to over shadow the large number of negative impacts it has imposed as well. The world has been changed by the U.S. in both positive and negative ways, and this is due to the alternating use of internationalism and isolationism. Throughout the United States’ existence both foreign polices have existed, but rarely have them been used at the came time. In the present day the U.S. has mainly focused on internationalism. This has

At this point in time, the main actors in the international system are nation-states seeking an agenda of their own based on personal gain and national interest. Significantly, the most important actor is the United States, a liberal international economy, appointed its power after the interwar period becoming the dominant economy and in turn attained the position of hegemonic stability in the international system. The reason why the United States is dominating is imbedded in their intrinsic desire to continuously strive for their own national interest both political and economic. Further, there are other nature of actors that are not just nation-states, including non-states or transnational,

It was an age of empire, and by the 1900s Europe’s powers had taken control of more than 10 million square miles and 150 million people. In the closing years of the nineteenth century, foreign policy assumed a new importance for Americans. Political and business leaders have been preoccupied by internal matters and began to look outward in order to advocate a more activist approach to world affairs. Not wanting to be left behind, the United States emerged as a great power exercising imperialism; two of the countries which experienced this exercise was, Hawaii and Cuba.

The U.S. foreign policy was first established around the early 1900’s.This foreign policy was created in order to maintain a balance of power among nations and it is also the government’s strategy in interacting with foreign nations. America’s policy has been changing over time reflecting the change in its national interest. For Example, as a new nation after the Revolutionary War the U.S. wanted to maintain its independence from more powerful European Countries. During the time periods of 1898 to 1908 the U.S. was dealing with various problems with other countries such as wanting to take control of Hawaii. By the year 1899 the U.S. was involved in its first war in Asia. Three more follow in the course of the next century they were Japan,

This book battles that underneath the excited activism of the sixties and the appearing quiet of the seventies, a "noiseless upset" has been happening that is slowly however essentially changing political life all through the Western world. Ronald Inglehart concentrates on two parts of this upset: a move from a staggering accentuation on material qualities and physical security toward more noteworthy worry with the personal satisfaction; and an expansion in the political abilities of Western publics that empowers them to assume a more noteworthy part in settling on imperative political

According to the Struggle for Democracy you need to exhibit all three guidelines of democracy, (popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty), to become democratic. It states that in popular sovereignty the supreme source of government authority and policies they make are the people, and that political equality is the concept that every person has equal weight in the management of public business. It also specifies that political liberty is the right of the people to practice the range of basic freedom, for instants the freedom of speech, association, and conscience, without the governments meddling.

Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood utilizes various elements of fiction to develop and question the concept of power and control in the patriarchal society of Gilead. Offred, the main Handmaid, is the instrument of which Atwood delivers her message about corruption and power. Offred’s vague diction, unreliable characterization, and erratic tone illustrate the distress of this transitional society (Abcarian 1403-1404). In the beginning of Chapter 23, the role of memory in the novel expands, and the readers test the narrator’s creditability. Offred concludes that all of her memories are “reconstructions”, and that she will continue this practice even if she escapes Gilead. She continues to relate fluid memories to forgiveness and forgiveness to an unnaturally complacent and obedient population (Atwood 134-135). Identifying a powerful relationship between memories, forgiveness, and power, Offred suggests that the main source of Gilead’s totalitarian power is the regime’s ability to manipulate its citizens’ will to forgive past transgressions.

The Next Decade, a novel by George Friedman, talks about the predictions of countries in the upcoming decade and how the United States should react to the various challenges. The novel’s first major claim is that the United States is actually an empire, similar to how Rome and Great Brian were. However, unlike the previous empires, the United States refuses to acknowledge its status as an empire. “What makes the United States an empire is the number of countries it affects, the intensity of the impact, and the number of people in those countries affected.” The implication of this quote is that the US has gotten to be so large, if the US decided to draw out of global affairs, the impact would be detrimental. Instead of escaping its duty to the world, Friedman claims that the United States must acknowledge its status as an empire and function as such in order to maneuver the next decade. This claim is a wise claim made by Friedman, but it his only claim of worth in the novel. In The Next Decade, Friedman fails to make his thesis credible because he doesn’t his sources, provide logical arguments on his predications of the future, or examine alternative possibilities.

In many eyes, the USA could be perceived as the world leader, the innovator and main influence across the world (Eftimiades, 2014, p32). However, I believe that compared to the late 20th century, the USA is not as influential as it once used to be. This has been seen by numerous embarrassments and mistakes by the USA in the past 15 years (McCoy, 2010). Examples such as leaked confidential American documents, political gridlock and unsuccessful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has undermined the power of the US and home and abroad. Another reason why I believe America has lost power in the 21st century is the trend of creating ‘communities’ of countries such as the European Union and the ASEAN, which allow for free trade and other agreements,

The US after the Cold War, became the unipolar power in the world. The unipolar system possesses only one great power with no competition. If a competitor emerges, the system can no longer be called unipolar. With the end of the Cold War, US emerged as the Unipolar superpower which also ended the traditional “East vs West’’ conflict. The longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history was seen after the cold war, in the 1990s. Originating in US defense networks, the internet spread to the public which greatly impacted the global economy, society, and culture. In the beginning of 1994, the US participated in the world’s largest trading bloc in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), linking 450 million people producing $17 trillion worth of goods and services. Since NAFTA came into effect, the North American economy has more than doubled in size. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) for Canada, the United States, and Mexico surpassed US$17 trillion in 2008, up from US$7.6 trillion in 1993. The structure of power in the international system determines the role of institutions. NATO, for example, is often cited as an institution that has outlived its original mandate—preventing a Soviet onslaught of Western Europe. NATO’s continued existence conveniently “illustrates how international institutions are created and maintained by stronger states (e.g., the United States) to serve their perceived and misperceived interests.”

The current international system is fragmenting rapidly since the end of the Cold War. A lot of regions in the world are still trying to find the balance of power in the international system, which the U.S. often intervenes to provide its brand of “global leadership”. Some countries like China are emerging as a global power since a few years ago. Subsequently, this will lead to a major threat to the U.S. status as a global major power. The rise of power by China in the international scene signifies the unpredictable nature of the international system. I would argue that the three most critical challenges for the U.S. arising out of this environment are the future world globalization that will cause a conflict between its domestic and foreign policy, the rise of China as a global power, and the ever globalization of terrorism. I believe that the U.S. should be pragmatic in handling its foreign policy and handle each situation independently without a fix doctrine in order to minimize the unintended consequences produced by the globalization of the world.