Steven Luke's Theory Of Power Case Study

Where does power lie in the UK? Where should it lie? Answer with reference to Steven Luke’s theory of power as described in “Power: A Radical View.”

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Power can be described as the authority to control and formulate decisions that have an impact on the public, and opposing governmental groups. Similar to most other modern democracies, the UK government is divided among three branches; the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. It is the actions of these branches through certain checks and balances, and other organisations such as pressure groups and TNC’s that determine where power lies and at what moment in time. The theory of Luke’s, written in “Power; a radical view” took inspiration from theorists such as Dahl, Bachrach, and Baratz, and labelled power as a multi-dimensional social factor that takes three faces: the “open” face, the “closed” face, and the “face of manipulation”. Luke’s ideas act as core fundamentals to this essay, as they will allow me to categorise examples of government action into a certain “face” and identify where the real power of the UK lies.

Liberal democratic society emphasises a need for separation of power/ three branches/ oversight, to prevent a large concentration of power and uphold liberally democratic values. May be useful to make use of and quote Montesquieu’s separation of powers system, the “tripartite” system, from “In the Spirit of the Laws” (1748):

- "The independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not apparent merely". "The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of powers, independent and unchecked", and also was considered dangerous.

Moving from this, giving a short sentence or two of what power each branch has, and how it exercises this power, with examples (if possible stating which face of Lukes it coheres with) will be very