BI ArticlePower Inequities
Plutarch wrote, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." This essay deals with the power inequities that have existed in almost all human societies.
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BI Article
Power Inequities
Plutarch wrote, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." This essay deals with the power inequities that have existed in almost all human societies.
BI Article
Morton Deutsch on Understanding and Overcoming Oppression
Current events and concerns suggest the utility of Morton Deutsch's six essays on oppression. He has much to teach us!
BI Article
The Nature and Origins of Oppression
The beginning of oppression can be traced back to the invention of agriculture. This essay outlines the history of oppression.
BI Article
Forms of Oppression
Oppression can take many forms. Understanding which are being used is essential for remedying the situation.
BI Article
Maintaining Oppression
In this essay, the author considers factors that keep oppression in place including power, the social production of meaning, self-fulfilling prophecies and distorted relationships.
BI Article
Overcoming Oppression: Awakening the Sense of Injustice
Awareness of injustice is a precondition for overcoming it. This essay discusses why people often aren't aware of their own and others' oppression.
BI Article
Overcoming Oppression Through Persuasion
This essay examines how low power groups can appeal to the oppressive group's moral values, self interests, and self realization to convince them to change their relationship with the other group(s).
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Overcoming Oppression With Power
How to increase one's sources of power and improve one's power strategies to force the oppressor to negotiate change to the status quo.
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The Complex Nature of Power
Power is not just the ability to force someone to do something against their will. It is also the ability to influence others through mutually beneficial exchanges and persuasion.
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Power Grabbers
Unfortunately, there are people whose principal goal in life is to seek power -- power that enables them to exploit and dictate the beliefs and behaviors of others.
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Balancing the Three Sources of Power -- Integrative, Exchange, and Force
Power is usually thought to be force--coercive power. But there are actually three kinds of power that can be mixed and matched -- force, exchange, and integrative power. Kenneth Boulding argued that integrative power is actually the strongest and most important of the three, because the other two need integrative power to function.
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Navigating the Power Contest Hierarchy
This article explains how the various dispute resolution arenas (e,g, administrative appeals, legislative action, electoral politics, public opinion, judicial review, policing, and military action) relate to one another in a rough hierarchy.
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The Importance of the Rule of Law, Checks and Balances
Rule of law and checks and balances are key elements of liberal democracy. Rule of law means that laws apply to everyone and procedures and policies should follow those laws. Checks and balances mean that the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) are independent of each other and provide checks on the over reach of the others.
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Power Balancers
For disputes that cannot be resolved through mutually beneficial agreement, there is a need for people and institutions with the responsibility to make hard, but fair, decisions about who wins and who loses and by how much in each specific case. Power balancers try to implement equitable ways of balancing power in such processes.
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Empowerment Leaders
Empowerment Leaders highlight and work to correct the society's most egregious power inequities and the unfairness that results from those inequities. Their focus is not on "getting even," but rather, they try to build a system that more equitably balances power in ways that all citizens will see as offering a path to a society that is fair for everyone.
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Effective Checks on Corruption and Individual Power
To be successful, 21st-century democracies need much more effective mechanisms for combating the tendency of power concentrations to lead to even greater (and more corrupt) power concentrations.
News and Opinion
The Power-Mad Utopians
A thought-provoking and undoubtedly controversial look at six major political follies that have characterized the still young 21st-century (three on the left and the on three right)