Overview of The Three Dimensions of Power

Power is the ability to make others do something they might otherwise not do; this can work against their own interests. Through the use of threats, rewards, and manipulation, power clearly exists whenever there are social relationships.

The first of the three dimensions of power is decision making or 'open' face. This alludes to the manners by which control over decision making is ‘open’, straightforward, and obvious to a vast larger part of the public. In a modern democratic society, individuals realize that they can include themselves in decision making through voting, standing for election, participating in a political party, joining a pressure group, signing a petition. Power lies with the Public, who pick, through voting, who they should have control them. A case of this would be the Marriage of Same Sex Couples Act in 2013 which had a few readings in Parliament, it was decided on and examined by committees and pressure groups before being passed as a law. It tends to be contended that this 'open face' of intensity is the most popularity based and straightforward as should be obvious to a vast larger part of the public. accordingly, most of the public acknowledge the choice because of the law-based nature of the cycle. Notwithstanding, a few pundits would contend that there is yet a lop sidedness of intensity as set up pressure gatherings and notable people are better ready to get their point heard than others. For instance, the weight bunch Stonewall had the option to put forth their defence straightforwardly to MPs in a parliamentary council, which gave them more noteworthy impact over the dynamic cycle. It is subsequently evident that force isn't totally open, even in a majority rule government, as some influential groups are better able to have an impact on politics than others.

The second face of power identified by Luke was the ‘none-decsion’ making face which is the power to prevent, ceritan decisions from being made, or particular policies from being discussed, power is therefore not just about imposing decisions over people, but about setting the political agenda itself. For example the prime minister holds nine democratic power, this can be shown by the use of poropagation, the prime minister prorogued parliament for the longest time in decades, the reasoning behind can be debated however theorist belive that he did this to ensure his political egenda of getting a no deal brexit. This is a clear example of the governments and prime misters being an elite group in society, making decisions for everyone, by attenptjng to limit MPs to involve themselves. The government making decisions for the public can save a lot of time and sometimes be in the interest of the public, however sometimes it’s to boost the status of the elite group.

The third face of power identified by Luke was is ‘shaping desire’ in his book likes argues thay if is no longer enough to see power as elitist , he argues that there is increasingly a need to look at the ways in which people can exercise power over others through ‘infulence’ or shaping or determining their very wants, for example Cambridge analytica used various ways to Influence the public to vote for there clients, Cambridge analytica used social media and targeted ads to sway the public, governments are having to combat this as it is a threat to democracy.

In conclusion, Steven Lukes identified the three faces of Power as Decision Making, Agenda Setting and Thought Control. He argued that these faces are exercised by those in power and that the first face or ‘open face’ of power is largely positive whereas agenda setting and thought control can have a negative impact on citizens.