Measurement of Power by Steven Lukes

Lukes S. (2010) Vlast’: Radikal’nyj vzglyad [Power: a Radical View], Moscow: HSE.

Abstract

Citation: Balatsky E. (2019) Measurement of Power by Steven Lukes. Mir Rossii, vol. 28, no 2, pp. 172–187 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2019-28-2-172-187

In 2010, Steven Lukes’ “Power: a Radical View” was first published in Russian. Although this monograph has long been a classic in international political discourse, its ideas are still largely unknown to Russian scholars. The current review briefly presents the core ideas of the book, but also considers several modern cases that can be fruitfully analyzed using Lukes’ conceptual framework. To this end, the article reintroduces his conceptual framework with the purpose of better understanding how each of the three dimensions of power manifest themselves in terms of when competition is enacted within a political cycle. It is shown that the deeper the cut in power, the closer the competition towards the
beginning of political cycle and the stronger the competition in external interactions. All three dimensions of power are illustrated using elections in USSR and Russia. Several additional cases are also reviewed, including, for instance, USA, North Korea, Vietnam and a handful of others, in order to illustrate other cases of political struggle in the international arena. The author also considers the sphere of culture, and, particularly, the
intentional silencing of achievements of certain writers for ideological reasons, which is ultimately determined by the political confrontation between different social orders. An important conclusion from Lukes’ conceptual framework is his thesis about the integrity and indivisibility of power, and ultimately the impossibility of its redistribution and sharing. The review also reflects on some of the consequences of the strengthening of power in the information society, which provides ample opportunities for manipulating public opinion. To this end, parallels are drawn between Lukes’ three-dimensional concept of power, the implosion doctrine of Jean Baudrillard and the theory of attention deficit of Danilo Zolo. It shows that the mastery of the third (informational) dimension of power by ruling elites allows them to greatly extend their stay in power by dampening apparent discontent among the population and social conflicts.