Meaning, Definition, Characteristics/Elements, Types, Nature of Power
What do you understand by power? Describe the nature of power.
OR" Define authority and state the basis of authority.
OR" Describe the types of authority.
OR "What is authority? State the characteristics of authority.
OR" Explain the concept of authority.
 |
| What do you understand by power? Meaning, Nature, Definitions, Types, Characteristics | |
Meaning of power
The word Satta is the Hindi adaptation of the English language word Authority. The origin of the word Authority in the English language is believed to be from the Latin word 'Auctoritas'. The meaning of this word is to increase i.e. power is that quality which desire, By connecting the will or choice with the discretion, it expands it. Power was also exercised in Rome. It was used by the senate there. In Rome, when the Senate gave its approval to the laws in the public assemblies, it was believed that there the laws got auctoritas, that is, they got power. That is, they used to get recognition according to the traditions in Rome. Aristotle used power in the form of rhetoric. He did the work of basing the arguments on power. Rhetoric is also considered to be the ability to find means of persuasion on any subject. Generally, power is considered to be related to power. He has also been given the name of the right to give orders and get them obeyed. Some thinkers have considered it as the orders given by the organization to a person to do something.
In short , "Power is a form of power in a democratic society. When power is given legitimacy, it is called 'authority'. That's why power is called the right to command.
Definition of power
According to Bierstadt, "Power is the institutional right to exercise power, it is not power itself."
According to Beech, “Power is the legitimate right to influence or direct the actions of others.”
According to Oslan, "Power is defined as justified power. Such power is exercised according to a person's values and under conditions that he deems fit."
Robert A. According to Dahl, "Reasonable power is often given the name of authority."
According to MacIver, "Authority is often defined as power, it is the power to get others to obey".
According to the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, "Power is the ability to exercise acquired or natural superiority over a group, to exercise authority and to command obedience from subordinates."
According to Aren, "Authority is that power which is based on acceptance. Its chief characteristic is the complete acceptance of those who have to obey it."
According to Jovinal, "By power is meant the acceptance or will of other persons."
Therefore, the entity has the same place in the state as the soul has in the body. All important decisions are taken by the authority itself and they are accepted by the subordinates. Giving orders and acceptance by subordinates are the two main aspects of authority. Therefore, when the power of the state has the legitimate (legitimate) support of the people there, then it is called power, without this support it will remain identical to power. This is the reason why the government needs more legitimate authority in a democratic form of government than in a dictatorial form of government.
'Power' can be considered as a form of influence. Power is the decision-making power that affects the actions of other people. Herbert Simon has also defined authority as the power to decide. Apart from this, power also clarifies the relationship between two persons. In which one is supreme and the other is subordinate. The order is given by the highest person, it is followed by the officers. Subordinate officers look forward to such decisions and their behavior is also determined by the decisions.
According to a 1955 UNESCO report, "authority is power that is accepted, respected, known and justified." Robert Dahl has said, "When a person 'A' gives an order to another person 'W' and 'W' feels that 'A' has the absolute right to issue such an order and his (B) It is an act that if such an order is followed, then the position of 'A' will be called power according to law and this is called power, that is, only power according to law is often called power.
Elements and characteristics of power
The elements and characteristics of authority are as follows-
1. Power is not always formal power
The belief of some people that power is always formal is not correct. Because power may also lack the qualities of formal power. Power generates power but it is not power.
CJ Frederick states that," Frederick states," Power is not a kind of power but an element that accompanies power. Power is such a quality in persons and things that increases their power. It is a quality that produces power but it is not power itself."
This means that a person's authority can be accepted without power, eg, if a person retires after teaching a subject for a long time, he will be an authority in his field of knowledge even after being powerless. . Hence power can exist without power and power cannot exist without power.
2. सत्ता विवेक पर आधारित होती हैं
One of the main features of power is that it is based on discretion and not on physical strength, that is, a person who is inferior to physical strength can also have power. According to Friedrich and Huddle, "the fundamental element of power is reason." In the words of Friedrich, "the person who has power, I think, also has the ability to explain rationally." In other words , It is that we can accept someone as a power only on the basis of solid arguments, otherwise not.
3. Legitimacy determines the capacity of power
In fact, legitimacy is the essence of authority of any kind. Only judicious orders get validity. According to Huddle , “A gives an order to B and B feels that A has full authority to do so, B is under a duty to carry out the order. Such power is justifiable but when B feels that that A has no right to compel B to obey his orders, and that B has no liability to obey A's orders, but that B's liability is to resist such orders, such power of A is said to be illegal or illegal. Illegitimate power is called, legitimate power is often given the name of authority.
4. Power is different from power
One characteristic of power is that power is different from power. Power generates power but power is not power. Along with power, there is also legitimacy in power.
5. Liability
Power is exercised on the basis of responsibility. In democratic systems, the ruling party is responsible to the Legislature for its actions and policies and the Legislature is responsible to the public. Whatever the nature of power, it is associated with responsibility.
6. dominance
This means that the person in power has dominance over the functions, outputs and investments and structures in the system. In other words, “Political institutions, functions and structures and their activities, etc., are operated and controlled by the government.
7. Power is legal
One of the characteristics of power is that it is legal.
8. Merits of Valuability, Appropriateness and Acceptance
सत्ता में मूल्यात्मकता, औचित्यपूर्णता एवं स्वीकृत के गुण पाये जाते है जो इसके प्रभाव को बढ़ाते हैं।
9. Power completes the works of public welfare.
10. Authority is a symbol of giving orders and obeying.
11. Power is considered relative in value.
types of power
The following are the types of power-
1. Authority based on divine rights
The form of power based on divine rights seems very strange because the modern era is the era of democracy in which the principle of divine rights has no importance, but this principle was very important in the medieval period. In England, James I and Charles I used to say that they have received state power as a divine right. Louis XIV of France also used to say, "He is the representative of God on earth." But at present the time of this type of divine authority is over and the concept of authority based on divine rights has also come to an end.
2. Power based on force
Under the evolutionary theory of the state, force has been considered as an important element in the rise of the state. According to this theory, a powerful person becomes a ruler by subduing the weak, but in a democracy, the means of gaining power is not by force, but by getting the support of the people. The principle of 'whose stick is his buffalo' was appropriate at the time when the person was uncivilized, but at present force is not considered the basis of power.
3. Power based on ancestral tradition
This type of power refers to that power which is based on ancestral tradition, that is, the power which is inherited. This is the form of power in monarchy. Although this form of power is still present in countries like England, Japan etc., but in the modern era its importance has reduced a lot.
4. Power of elites
In this type of power, the power is in the hands of such persons who are influential as upper class of the society due to knowledge, wealth or power.
5. Constitutional authority
When a person gets power by the constitution, it is called 'constitutional power'. For example, the powers assigned to the President of India by the Indian Constitution are based on constitutional authority.
6. Illegal power
The power which is not obtained according to the law or constitution but by unfair means is called 'illegal power'. When an officer or military officer's illegal power by force is not permanent and the public can be against it at any time. In 1977, an attempt was made by Mrs. Gandhi to implement dictatorial tendencies, but the public expressed its opposition by defeating Indira Gandhi in the elections.
German thinker Max Weber in his book 'Jam Gemvatl va Bipns dak Mbvdavupav Vathidprajpavd' has described three types or forms of power in the modern state-
1. Traditional power
This power is attained by a person not because of qualification or holding a position under scientific rules, but because of holding a position accepted by tradition or hereditary. Traditional authority rests on the belief that prevailing values or beliefs are reasonable. Here it is believed that the person or dynasty who has been ruling the country according to the prevailing tradition, only he has the right to rule. For example, the power of chief in tribes, the power of panchayats in agriculture, monarchy in Britain, etc. It is noteworthy here that the way statutory authority is certain and limited according to laws, in the same way customary authority is not limited and certain because it lacks clear and definite rules.
2. Charismatic power
Charismatic power is expressed in the form of leadership whose followers exaggerate the qualities of their leader. In this, the source of power is personal qualities and his own characteristics. The society or the subordinate perceives the supernatural because of the qualities of that person and hands over all its rights to that person. Like -- Shankaracharya, Dalai Lama, Pope, Mahatma Gandhi, Julius Caesar etc.
3. Legislative power
This power is associated with the accepted and prevailing statutory laws in the society and not with the individual. That is, the person who occupies the post has all the power related to that post in his hands. People associated with the system are selected on the basis of prescribed qualifications and not on the basis of any tradition or charisma. Therefore, its area is limited to the extent that the statutory rules give specific rights to that post.
The nature of power
There is a difference of opinion regarding the nature of power and in this regard mainly two principles have been propounded. Both these principles Propounded by the middle which are as follows-
1. Formal authority theory
According to this principle, power is considered to be the right to command and the flow of power moves from top to bottom. This authority is given to specific and senior officers in systems and organizations and this creates a command or hierarchy of power.
There is a legitimate power of the system or organization behind the power, because of this power it is accepted. Power does not necessarily indicate the personal superiority of the ruler, the ruler is only a working symbol of the inherent power in the system or organization. MacIver called it the 'magic of government' that a person who commands may be no more intelligent than his subordinates, no more capable and in no way superior to his ordinary peers, sometimes even His level may be inferior to all of these, but being in a position of authority, he gives orders and his orders are followed.
2. Acceptance Principle
Behaviouralists or human relationists render 'acceptance theory' without believing in formal authority theory. According to these realist scholars, authority is only formal in law, but in reality the success of authority or authority to command depends upon the acceptance of the subordinates. The position becomes the 'power position'.
Barnard writes in his work The Functions of the Executive that for subordinates to accept orders, four conditions must be fulfilled-
Barnard writes in his work The Functions of the Executive that for subordinates to accept orders, four conditions must be fulfilled-
(अ) अधीनस्थ अधिकारी आदेश अथवा सूचना को समझता या समझ सकता हो,
(b) at the time of making his decision, he is of the opinion that the order is not inconsistent with the objects of the organisation,
(c) at the time of taking the decision, he thinks that the order concerned as a whole is in his personal interest and
(d) he is mentally and physically capable of complying with the order.
In fact, both these theories propounded in relation to the nature of power have their own weaknesses and can be called extreme. Accepting the truths of both these principles, a balanced approach has been developed, under which both institutionalized justified power and acceptance of subordinates have been given important place in the concept of authority. This is the proper approach and has generally been adopted in Political Science.
base of power
The basis of any kind of authority in the world is its justification. In other grounds, we can mention ideology, good governance, dedication to public opinion etc.
boundariesLike power, power also has its limits. Powers stand on the basis of public acceptance, whereas public disillusionment is its biggest limitation. Both legal and traditional powers have to work outside the borders of the country. Along with this, international law and organizations and ambushes of superpowers also determine the extent of the power of the country. Conflict of interest of various organizations, employees, farmers, workers etc. within the country is also its limitation. Human weakness is its limit, the interrelationship of power, power and influence – these three are related and different from each other. Tilak and Gandhi did not have power, but they had a wide, deep and positive influence. Hitler Mussolini had power and strength but his influence was negative. The abundance of their power became a threat to the entire human being. Mao and Stalin also had both power and authority, but they were also a positive influence. Gorbachev had power but did not have enough power, so he was also ineffective. Nehru's example is unique and wonderful. Even before attaining power, he had enough influence in the public and after attaining power, he established democratic values in the country with the power derived from it. Nehru made the people of India used to a new folk tantric power by eradicating the tradition of individual-based power of India, which we also know by the name of feudalism. He depersonalized the power and institutionalized it. Power has remained in the hands of many such rulers in history, who oppressed the general public with punishment and fear generated by the abundance of physical power, such as E. D. Amin, Colonel Gaddafi and Polpot etc. Being anti-people, they proved illegal at the global level and the public uprooted them. The effect that Robert Dahl made the central subject of his study, he also considers public approval as the basis of effect. Therefore, power is not the power of the ruler, it is the bridge between the government and the people.
relationship between power and authority
In general, power and power seem to be synonymous, however, in political theory, both these words keep their separate and special place, when power is given a legal form, it becomes power. The existence of power is possible in the absence of power, but its long-term stability is not possible in the absence of power. For the stability of power, it is necessary that it should be used as a right and its orders should be accepted as a duty. Therefore, in this way power is non-institutional, circumstantial and uncertain whereas power is institutional clear and definite. Power without consent and acceptance is considered invalid and reprehensible in the form of violence, use of force and coercion.
Authority is institutionally clear and definite, although the two main components of authority are power and legitimacy, yet power can exist even in the absence of power, such as the authority of a doctor, professor or saint, religious teacher, but there is no doubt that without power, the entire It is very difficult to implement official decisions and rules on the society because some people create obstacles in establishing law and order in the society by disregarding the statutory rules for their immediate benefit and selfishness, such as disregarding traffic rules. Therefore, if we compare power with a naked sword, then power is a sword covered in its sheath which is taken out only when needed, therefore power and power are interrelated and both need each other for their use.
difference between power and strength
Power and power are two important and different concepts of political science. Power is the right to command while power is the ability to command. The form of power is legal, while it is not necessary that the form of power is also legal.
The difference between power and authority can be explained on the following main grounds-
1. Power based on force, while authority is based on rules and concepts
The meaning of both power and authority is usually taken from the position of keeping it under control, but in fact the basis of power can be called force, that is, the power to forcefully implement its decisions on others. Whereas according to the laws, rules, beliefs, beliefs and values, it will be called power to implement its decision on others.
2. Power is legal or illegal, but power is legal
Power can be justifiable or illegal i.e. unjustified, but power is often justifiable or legitimate.
3. There is an element of discretion in power whereas this element is not there in power.
It is necessary for power to make other people agree with their thoughts on the basis of conscience, while power is the name of the ability to make others' behavior in their favor, because the ability to command is power.
4. Power comparison is multi-purpose
Power is multipurpose as compared to power, power is used for common purposes. Whereas power has been used to fulfill specific objectives.
Read More :-
0 Comments