Searching for the positive exercise of power

Abstract

Domination cannot be overcome without a clear alternative. Yet the normatively positive exercise of power tends to be defined in reaction to domination, creating a diffuse and insufficient foil. This risks conflating power with domination and reinforcing rather than escaping it. Instead, this paper proposes an active complexity-compatible conception of positive power and a simplified power trichotomy. Rather than being purely an analytic tool, the power-to, power-over, and power-with trichotomy is placed at the heart of social production. The precise differentiation of positive from negative power proposed by this revised trichotomy becomes critical. Our capacity to flourish in a complex changing world depends on it.