ABSTRACT

The concept of power is conventionally associated with physical force. According to Dahl’s classic definition of power in the 1950s, ‘A has power over B if he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do’ (Dahl 1957). In such a remark, power is generally perceived as an external pressure or force that affects one’s behaviour, thoughts and feelings, and changes the direction of previous states and courses of action, regardless of one’s intentions.