Author: haroonkhan

In India, if one looks at the broad political spectrum, it appears that after independence the nature and composition of elites have undergone change. During the British period, there were limited choices and areas where elite formation or elite recruitment could take place, even though, after 1858, educational, business, professional and employment opportunities under the…

The elitist perspective on distribution of power recognizes diversification of power amongst a variety of intelligent, qualified, skilled, meritorious and distinguished persons. These people belong to different aspects of life—political, social, economic, religious, spiritual, educational, intelligentsia, etc. It maintains that power is diversified and distributed amongst those who are of exceptional qualities, intelligence and skill.…

We have noted that in the liberal perspective, power distribution is assigned the role of conflict resolution and resource allocation. The state is viewed as neutral agency and working for the betterment of all. Power is used for the purpose of redistribution and welfare, peace, law and order, and mediation amongst variety of interested groups.…

We have noted that in the liberal perspective, power distribution is assigned the role of conflict resolution and resource allocation. The state is viewed as neutral agency and working for the betterment of all. Power is used for the purpose of redistribution and welfare, peace, law and order, and mediation amongst variety of interested groups.…

We have noted earlier that the liberal view of politics treats power as a means through which authoritative allocation of resources in society is made, conflict is resolved through negotiation and persuasion and influence is exercised. This necessarily involves the question of how is power in a society distributed and how does its distribution affect…

Does political authority imply limitation on use of power? Alternatively, will doing away with the notion of political authority result in free flowing exercise of power by the state? We have discussed how authority is related to power by way of legitimacy. Power legitimately exercised is authority and the test of legitimacy in modern democracy…

Weber has classified authority into three types based on how they seek legitimacy or which are the sources of legitimacy. His classification correlates right to rule with source of this right. For Weber, power is exercised either as control or influence. As such, it is a social relationship26 where control and influence is exercised through acceptance and willingness of those who…

In a constitutionally limited state, political authority is generally related with legitimate political power. However, political authority, as in mixed economy or as Marxian writers suggest about the capitalist systems, may also wield economic power or seeks its power on ideological basis. Political authority may exercise its power by using its various dimensions—political, economic and…

The word ideology seeks its origin from the French, idéologie (ideo + logy) meaning ‘science of ideas’. The French philosopher, Destutt de Tracy is said to have used the term ideology to refer to ‘science of ideas’ in 1796.21 Ideology is described as a set of opinions, ideas, beliefs and values that shape the thought, behaviour and action…

Interpretation and understanding of political power differ in liberal and Marxian perspectives. In the liberal view, nature and characteristics of political power is related to how the political process is understood. In the Marxian perspective, understanding of the concept of political power is related to the understanding of the economic system. While liberal view treats…