The Relationship between Power and Politics
The following essay determines upon the relationship between the power of the third dimension and the politics in the contemporary world. The media in the modern day world has a very close relationship with the politics. The power of media has been exposed in the western democracies all the more and media has been very powerful in depicting the things that go on in the contemporary world. This is why the Third Dimension of Power has been one of the most important things in this context (D’Anieri 2015). The most important things that would be done in this essay are the establishing the relationship between power and politics and the discussion of the Third Dimension power. It has been seen lately that the power and politics are very much interrelated with each other. This has a very strong impact on the ways of the movement of politics in the Western democracies. The matter of the Third Dimension Power will be a very crucial part in this segment.
Power is a very important component in the sphere of politics all over the world. The politicians mainly thrive for the power that they want to have and direct the states according to their will. This is why it is considered as one of the most important sources for gaining the power in the political spheres (Horkheimer and Adorno 2006). At first, the proper concept of power should have to be understood here. It is about how the power is exercised on the individuals and the states. Power is considered to be a subject disposition. This is why it has to be practiced properly (Kahler 2015). The power has the ability to conquer several individuals or the states or the groups. In order to exercise its force, it has to be applied properly indeed. It is said that the power mainly has three dimensions. The main aim of asserting power is definitely domination (Horkheimer and Adorno 2006)
This concept of power can be seen from several aspects like the productive, authoritative, and transformative or any such ways. The power should not be exercised in the authoritative power because the dignity of the individual is lost when the authoritative power is forced. The concept of power has been defined by many from various aspects. This is why the politicians have been trying to apply their power to get their jobs done. The application methods of power will depend mainly on the people on whom this is applied. The power relations have been affecting the people from many ways indeed (Horkheimer and Adorno 2006)
The Three Dimensions of Power
The first one of the three power methods depicts the fact of the empirical approach to that of power as has been carried out through generations. This manifestation process of power is not that much enough at all (Lukes 1986). The second type of concept of power displays the less obvious matter of power when some issues have to be suppressed by the dominance of power. Through this kind of application of power, the individuals will be able to dominate others and forcefully establish the facts that they believe in (Seib 2012). The actions that can be observed fall into this category of the power in the best ways. According to the third dimension of power, it is the force or the component that cannot be operated without any real kind of manifestations within this area. This application of the power is more likely to be operated in the converted manner (Lukes 1986).
The interests of the groups or the individuals can exist and it can be an impediment to achieve the benefits in the best ways (McChesney 2015). The application of the power in this manner will not yield the proper advantages for the others who stay at the receiving end of it. Some of the examples that can be given in this scenario are the position of the slaves or the untouchables in countries like Asia and other African countries. The expert who has commented on this term of the third dimension of power is Stephen Lukes who has given a proper idea of the whole thing with much detail (Lukes 1986).
In this kind of power, the three kinds of dimensions that are present in the context are the issue, agenda and manipulation. Some experts have described the ‘power’ as a relation among different people within the society (Esping-Andersen 2017). The ways the power will be exerted have been discussed in this first dimension. The elite people who rule this world have the upper hand in the decision making within the society. The other people do not have a chance to intervene into this matter as well. The power is a very direct one and it is mostly all about taking the right decisions for the benefits of people (Lukes 1986).
According to the second phase of the three dimensional power concept considers the decision making system is a very complicated system altogether. This is why it is very important to control the situations under which all the decisions are made. Then this would be easier to control and influence the decisions (Esping-Andersen 2017) The aftermath of those decisions can be influenced as well. In case of politics, the decisions are also made from several aspects like the deciding from the aspects of the elected officials who possess the ultimate power indeed. The agendas are set up and the decisions are made with strict actions indeed. This would be highly important for all the people within this power mapping (Pinder 2013).
The Media’s Role and Influence
The impact of getting the power is huge in many concepts. The media plays a very crucial role in this matter. Media is the considered to be the platform that can communicate between the government and the common people. The media has the power to make transformations in the entire society (Pinder 2013) The media can transform the mentality of the people by sharing the news about the society and government in the best ways. The media has two ways to transform the mentality of the people. It can either lead them for good or it can mislead them.
There are some societies in the Western countries that are dictated by the rulers. The media plays an important part in the controlling the people in the western democracies. The political climate in those regions are quite complex so the people are very much confused about their roles within the society (Bull 2012). This is why the people should be made aware of this. The reality of domination has a very close contact with that of the politics in many contexts. It is due to the different cultures of the countries that the political depends a lot. The governments in some of the western democracies will like to show and exert their executive power to get all the benefits indeed. However, the media plays a very vital part in exposing the faces when the domination of the political leaders becomes a kind of torture (Bull 2012)
In the last few decades the world has seen the spread of democracy in a huge manner. It is the role of the media to lead the change and communicate with all the people. The different media channels like the TV, radio, social media and others should take up the proper initiative to make the proper communication (Beetham 2013). The media has an important role to play a very important role in the enlightenment of the common people. The common people hardly have any idea about the entire thing related to politics and the third dimension power. It is the media that will throw the light upon the entire thing. The media has been focusing on the political changes within the western democratic countries. However, it is really important indeed to measure the political environment of the countries in which the media has to operate (Giddens 2013).
Media is considered to be the mirror of the society. This is why the media personnel always try to let the people what is happening inside their own country. In a democratic country, the local people have the rights to know the truth about all the things that take place within their country (Beetham 2013) However, the political influence also works as a very important aspect indeed. If the politically powerful parties in the democratic countries exert their political powers to make the media present the news just as they want, this will be highly degrading for them. This is why media is struggling to build its own identity strongly. It is very relevant that the media has to act as the watchdogs so they can be able to present the news just the way it is. If the media gets biased for any specific political party or power, it will indeed be very harmful for the democracy of the country (Castells 2013).
Power and Media Biasness
Several media channels have shown their biasness over the years for some specific political parties and this has been causing the political advantage for them. This has ruined the democratic environment within the country as well (Chadwick 2017). The different western media channels like the New York Times, Herald Sun and others have observed their responsibilities properly (Trottier and Fuchs 2014). This is also a fact that the media channels have exploited the sensitive issues in such a way that the people tend to believe in everything that they say. They do not judge the news from their own perspectives and this is why they have lost their arguing and reasoning power as well. If the individuals lose their critical thinking power and only believe in what the media hs to say, this will be just like surrendering to the modern political powers in the western democratic countries that generally are full of corruption.
Conclusion
This essay can be concluded by saying that the concept of power is a very interesting one in understanding the modern politics. The political parties sometimes begin to influence the media so they can start campaigning for those political parties. The third dimension power has been discussed in this essay. The media power is very much strong to capture the minds of the common people. If the minds of the people can be manipulated by media, this will bring about a change in the corruptive background of the country. The media biasness can cause harm in the democratic countries of the west. This will also affect the concept of democracy to a large level as well.
References
Beetham, D., 2013. The legitimation of power. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bull, H., 2012. The anarchical society: a study of order in world politics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Castells, M., 2013. Communication power. OUP Oxford.
Chadwick, A., 2017. The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford University Press.
D’Anieri, P., 2015. Understanding Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design. Routledge.
Esping-Andersen, G., 2017. Politics against markets: The social democratic road to power. Princeton University Press.
Giddens, A., 2013. The third way: The renewal of social democracy. John Wiley & Sons.
Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T.W., 2006. The culture industry: Enlightenment as mass deception. Media and cultural studies: Keyworks, pp.41-72.
Kahler, M. ed., 2015. Networked politics: agency, power, and governance. Cornell University Press.
Lukes, S. ed., 1986. Power. NYU Press.
McChesney, R.W., 2015. Rich media, poor democracy: Communication politics in dubious times. New Press, The.
Pinder, D., 2013. Visions of the city: utopianism, power and politics in twentieth century urbanism. Routledge.
Seib, P., 2012. Real-time diplomacy: politics and power in the social media era. Springer.
Trottier, D. and Fuchs, C. eds., 2014. Social media, politics and the state: Protests, revolutions, riots, crime and policing in the age of facebook, twitter and youtube (Vol. 16). Routledge.