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999			_c161077 _d161077
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008			200208s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a333362918
082			_a328.34 DEB
100			_aDebnam, Geoffrey.
245		0	_aAnalysis of power : a realist approach
260			_aLondon
260			_bMacmillan Press
260			_c1984
300			_a112 p.
520			_aThis book takes a new approach to the study of power by claiming that it is both necessary and possible to identify the core elements that are present in all conceivable instances of power. Unless these are properly identified, analysis is flawed, and can become fatally preoccupied with other features, such as conflict, giving information that may be important but which does not lay the necessary foundation for a thorough going As a result of looking at the approaches of writers such as Hunter, Dahl, Presthus, Agger, Goldrich and Swanson, Bachrach and Baratz, and Lukes, fifteen elements are iden tified as candidates, but are then reduced to the core elements: action, actor, intention and outcome. Each of these is discussed to sort out the problems presented. For example, can a collectivity be regarded as an actor, and can an exercise of power be attributed to inaction? Intention is the most troublesome, and is discussed at some length. Outcome is the most overlooked, yet is critical and leads directly into a discussion of the significance of structure. The concept of structure has been given only limited reference in the literature on power. Where it does become the focus for debate it is immediately extended to mean structural de terminism. Rejecting such an interpretation, it is argued that the concept has very definite implications concerning the positions occupied by the observer and the subject in relation to the outcome identified. The first and most basic step lies in the recognition of this essential duality. At the least, the book may be taken as a plea for realism in the study of power.
650			_aPolitical Science
942			_cDB _2ddc