Title: Expressions of power | Understanding power for social change | powercube.net | IDS at Sussex University
Headings: Expressions of power
Plan a workshop
Analyse power
Strategize for action
Expressions of power
Power Over
Power With
Power To
Power Within

Content: When people are denied access to important resources like land, healthcare, and jobs ‘power over’ perpetuates inequality, injustice and poverty. In the absence of alternative models and relationships, people repeat the ‘power over’ pattern in their personal relationships, communities and institutions. This is also true of people who come from a marginalized or ‘powerless’ group. When they gain power in leadership positions, they sometimes ‘imitate the oppressor.’ For this reason, advocates cannot expect that the experience of being excluded prepares people to become democratic leaders. New forms of leadership and decision-making must be explicitly defined, taught, and rewarded in order to promote more democratic forms of power. Practitioners and academics have searched for more collaborative ways of exercising and using power. Three alternatives – ‘power with’, ‘power to’ and ‘power within’ – offer positive ways of expressing power that create the possibility of forming more equitable relationships. By affirming people’s capacity to act creatively, they provide some basic principles for constructing empowering strategies. Power With
‘Power with’ has to do with finding common ground among different interests and building collective strength.