What is power?
Description
ASSIGNMENT: Define power. Where power is perceived to be located What effects power is perceived to have What source power is perceived to be drawn from Ideas about what does or should limit power (i.e. moral standards) What counts as successful resistance of power or employment of power In this essay, you will become a political theorist and generate your own definition of power. You will do so largely by relying on the arguments made by the theorists we have read in class, and by clarifying and critiquing them in order to draw your own conclusions about the nature and meaning of power. INSTRUCTIONS: You will select AT LEAST THREE thinkers and use their insights and/or your criticism of them to help you articulate your theory of power. You will provide the necessary textual evidence from these texts to substantiate your interpretation. In text citations are required. THREE THINKERS: 1. Realism – Machiavelli (The Prince) 2. Political Economy – Karl Marx (Communist Manifesto) OR John Locke (Second Treatise on Government) 3. Society and Ideas – Foucault (Summary Discipline and Punish) OR JS Mill (On Liberty) OR WEB DuBois (The Souls of Black Folk) Be sure to consider some fundamental questions: What does power do? Where does power come from? Where is power “located”? To what extent is power a resource and/or a threat? And for/to what, exactly? What should individuals and society do in recognition of your theory of power? To what extent does power change over time and why? What should power achieve, if anything? Length: double-spaced, typewritten pages in 12-point font with 1” margins on all sides. You must provide a clearly indicated, specific, concise, and debatable thesis statement in the first paragraph. This will likely be your definition of power. YOU MUST INCLUDE A REBUTTAL SECTION. Include a conclusion that makes some sort of statement of why your theory matters. What’s at stake in developing a theory of power? Include APA formatted bibliography Include page numbers
