- published: 13 May 2012
- views: 43602
Political power (imperium in Latin) is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the representatives of national sovereignty. Political powers are not limited to heads of states, however the extent to which a person (such as Joseph Kony, Subcomandante Marcos, or Russell Means) or group such as an insurgency, terrorist group, or multinational corporation possesses such power is related to the amount of societal influence they can wield, formally or informally. In many cases this is not contained within a single state and it refers to international power.
Political scientists have frequently defined power as "the ability to influence the behaviour of others" with or without resistance.
For analytical reasons, I.C. MacMillan[who?] separates the concepts power
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One of the most famous references to power comes from the Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong