CHAPTER 1 POWER AND POLITICS POWER AND pouTics IN AUSTRACIA CSIMPLIF IED )4 PowenscaPe bee chapter presents the study of politics as the study of power, and more 5 pecifically relationships of power between people, groups and institutions. Tt recognises that id that power is an essentially contested concept. We present a three-dimensional view of power that informs the analysis in the rest of the book. Topics covered in this chapter include: * the study of politics is essentially the study of relationships of power * power is ubiquitous, but intangible and hard to measure * a three-dimensional view of power enables more complex interactions to be analysed and understood * power can be present in capacity or exercise; thus it can be overt or covert, conscious or unconscious, and individual ot collective. SNAPSHOT The Australian Prime Minister: leading the power game? Se elected government and the highest represen- tative of the people, he or she (in December 2007 Australia had its first female Prime Minister when newly elected Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard took on the role of Acting Prime Minister for three days ithin days of being sworn into office on 3 December 2007, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd declared: the government has a plan to move Australia forward by boosting long- term productivity growth for the future. The Government has a plan to tackle Australia’s future challenges and I want to begin implementing that plan as soon as possible ... I do not under-estimate the degree of difficulty involved in this ambitious agenda. But the time has come now to roll our sleeves up and get to work. (Rudd 2007a) Then on the opening day of the new parliament on 12 February 2008, the traditional owners of Australia were honoured and for the first time ever a welcome to country was performed by first Australians (Rudd 20082). Power and politics 5 On the next day, the first sitting day of the new parliament, the Prime Minister apologised to indigenous people for the Stolen Generation and made commitments to reduce disadvantage faced by indigenous communi- ties within the next five to ten years (Rudd 2008b). The apology was an historic occasion. * In these statements and actions; has acknowl that he is a political leader a doing these things the Prime Minister recognises that he or she is expected to develop policy that gives expression to the people's values and aspirations. Since Kevin Rudd is now leading the first national Labor government for more than a decade, he feels he has a mandate for change. He will also be continuously lobbied and pressured by other members of government, parliamentarians, the media and the general public. How far is the Prime Minister able to exercise independent leadership, and how much is he affected by other players, issues and ideas within the Australian political system? How does the Prime Minister respond to ea demands and still retain the role of a on leader? ieutii of decision-making within parliament * bout what issues need to be brought to parliament and in what form, and others within Australian politics when trying to have their voice heard. The first arena influencing the Prime Minister is the formal institutional arena within which he operates and makes decisions. Th at forms government. In thi sense the Prime Ministers power to make decisions is clear. He leads the putting of proposals to parliament for a vote. It is easy to see when the PrimeMinister has achieved his intention and when he has not, by looking at whether his party's proposals are passed by the parliament. But this does not tell us the whole story about how the Prime Minister operates within the Australian political system. In order to understand some of the broader pressures the Prime Minister faces, it is necessary to examine from their areas of expertise and trying to bring up proposals of their own for the party to adopt and then take to the parliament for approval. The process of considering which ideas to take to the parliament, and in what form, is lengthy and com important d pressuring the government to respond. Media coverage of political and community issues can force the government to respond to speci example about crime levels or the state of schools. | For example, Kevin Rudd consulted indigenous ople on the wording of i ut even these two arenas do not tell us everything about how the Prime Minister operates because they do not provide us with the full context within which decision- making takes place and power is possessed and exercised. As well as responding to parliamentary, party, media and community pressures, the Prime Minister is also expected to provide leadership in the sense of having a vision for Australia’s futu , ime Minist: HEALS) values and preferences. In the contemporary political environment in Australia, arguments about decisions and policy at a parliamentary level tend to reflect larger differences in ideas. An ideology by which Kevin Rudd claims to be informed is social justice—the idea that his role requires that power be ‘balanced by social responsibility and a duty to the less fortunate’ (Canberra Times 2007, p. 16). Time will tell whether this ideology survives other influences on the Prime Minister. Other influen- tial ideological perspectives that will affect political decision-making Power and politics 7 include neo-liberalism—a belief in the importance of free market com- petition and a promotion of choice through market systems—and globalisation—the extent to which Australia is becoming integrated with global economic and social concerns. ‘This means that underlying beliefs can affect decision-making without us even being aware of them. Understanding how the Prime Minister exercises leadership therefore requires an examination of all three arenas within which pressure is possessed and exerted both overtly and covertly. What do these arenas represent? How can they be explained? What is the role of power in under- standing politics? The study of politics The study of politics is at least several thousand years old (Dahl 1964, p. 2). During this time society has become more complex, with the emergence of repre- sentative parliamentary forms of government, a large bureaucracy and the development of new norms for relations between states internationally. As these momentous changes have occurred and demands on government have increased, a constant theme in every political society has been the presence of, and attempt to harness, power. lore specifically, politics is the study of relationships between people and institutions possessing different levels of power, and attempts to alter these levels in terms of access, process and outcomes. Power is therefore a ubiquitous theme in political science literature. But calculations of power are difficult to make. This renders the study of politics particularly open to interpretation. It is for this reason that some people argue that the study of politics is not a ‘science’ at all; ‘real’ science, also called hard science, is characterised by testable theorems and the conducting of exper- iments that produce hard data from which analysts may deduce the answer to aquestion. Social sciences, in which the study of politics is located, are far less aca Ft which all ther ft excep those under say maybe iit, example if a political scientist were to ask what the causes of poverty in a partic- ular community might be, and were to find a relationship between impoverishment and lack of access to publicly funded education, the researcher may wish to deduce that some kind of causal link exists between the provision of publicly funded education and an ability to earn enough money to live comfort- ably, However, the same study may also find that impoverished families had more children than rich families. Would this imply that having more children induced poverty? Conversely, would it imply that impoverished families tend to have more children? These implications need to be assessed using other methods and tests, which means that finding answers is usually not straightforward. In the end answers in the social sciences tend to be informed by the values the researcher holds as well as the nature and method of the study undertaken, For these reasons, Dahl regards of observation, interview, survey, questionnaire ot statistical analysis. For example if you wanted to discover whether a policy directed at people with disabilities had increased their rate of finding full-time work, you could count the number of people with disabilities in full-time jobs before and some time after the policy was imple- mented, and interview some of those people to discover what factors ha them secure their employment, in this context, this book seeks to provide students of Australian politics with the skills neces. sary to study the Australian political system, its dynamics and framework, its central components, and the engagement of individuals, groups, organisations and institutions with it. In political science, some concepts are known as ‘essentially contested’ (Lukes 2005, p. 14). This means something quite specific. A contested concept is one whose definition is under dispute. This means that different researchers will apply different frameworks, assumptions and even values to that concept, to understand- ing and applying it. This is true of the idea of power. However, power is more than just a contested concept: it is an essentially contested one. This means that resolution of the debate over the meaning of power is impossible, in the sense that no one true meaning of the term exists (Heywood 2004, p. 5). Instead, different meanings of the term can be upheld as valid within different contexts and arguments. In trying to provide a definition of power here, then, we are not trying to establish the one true meaning of power. What we are doing is outlining a particular conception of power that we find persuasive. We. will also clarify why we find it persuasive. What is power? Lukes’ analysis of power, first published thirty years ago but still influential today, differentiates three ways of understanding power as one-dimensional, two- dimensional and three-dimensional (2005). Each of these ways of understanding power sheds light on particular elements in interactions within political com- vmitis, Moteoves each is relational: that's +o <3) e cause of those disagreements 1s not at issue here. Disagreements may emerge over differences in ideological perspec- tive, values or cultural attitudes, for example. What is at issue here is the observation of power at work in communication and interaction between people, whether it be in the form of an actual exercise of power or in the mere presence of a capacity to exercise such power. Lukes first describes a view of that he regards @QRSuNeRSOHaI The focus of the study of politics and is therefore formal political institutions such acai or because there are issues si are eee and therefore invoke conflict (2005, pp. 16-19). For example, observing the outcome and process of decisions about education funding would enable us to decide whether power had been successfully exercised by an advocate for greater government funding for private schools or an advocate for reduced government funding for private schools. We would examine who was able to win majority support for their point of view within the policy circles where such decisions are made. Table 1.1 describes the one-dimensional view of power. particularly criticises the assumption that open con!TABLE 1.1 One-dimensional power Concept of power Power as decision-making Where is power exercised? The formal political arena, institutions of politics such as the parliament How do we measure power? By counting votes and the outcomes of decisions Source: adapted from Hay 2002, p. 180. for the exercise of power. Lukes points out that it is possible to observe power at work in arenas even where there is no direct or observable conflict. For example, power is at work when a student completes their homework and assignments for their teacher. They are obeying the school rules, but it is unlikely that there was overt conflict when the teacher exercised power over the students. Alternative decisions ot options may not be expressed openly (Lukes 2005, p. 22). In these instances, the opportunity for observing open conflict is reduced or absent. Yet it would be wrong to assume that just because no overt instance of conflict can be observed, there is no power differential at work. Indeed, power can be successfully deployed in instances where conflict is subdued ot even absent. These concerns have given rise to Lukes’ se his means that some means of expressing choices and prefe powerful than other. Those put forward bythe most powtsl groep ec become discussed as viable, and their participation is privileged (Lukes 2008 20-1). To the extent that this scenario is true, it means that in decision-makeeg processes, everyone's views and desires are not equally represented. Some neccle have less opportunity to interact with decision-making. processes than Cehees which lessens their chances of ensuring that their values or preferences win an ah decision-making process even before it has begun. Th political decision-making. Si i Bates aed om In this understanding of how power may be exercised, types of power can be described in several ways. Lukes begins to do this, but others have added to his typology. The following list, therefore, has been adapted from both Lukes (2005, pp. 21-2) and Smith (1997a, pp. 19-21), and ranks GRAB cuits where a person is encouraged to comply with another’ wishes without any threat or force being used. An example is when a teacher asks students to do their school work. © GERD when a person is encouraged to do something by being offered a reward in return. This could be a pay rise or public accolades. . more overt than inducement, and involves the open communi- cation by one person of their wishes to another, in a manner that persuades them to do what is asked of them. In their ideal form, parliamentary debates are a form of persuasion in which parliamentarians attempt to persuade their counterparts that their policy proposal is better than others’ on the basis of the viability Of the aiguments presented. QUINN 502s hs elon Socal coe ity BE wee aE they are being required to do so. The real meaning of the person using their power over others is hidden. An example of manipulation is a politician delib- erately lying to their constituents to get elected to parliament, if they later reveal that their real policy agenda was different from that presented to the i re the election. * used when a person is encouraged to comply with another's wishes because they believe them to be legitimate and reasonable. Another way to describe it is that a person possesses authority when other people obey them without requiring any further means of persuasion. For example, when a minister requests a public servant to undertake a task that is reasonable and within their job description, the public servant will undertake that task without resistance because the minister has the authority to request them to do it. ‘curs where a person complies with the wishes of another in response to a threat. This could include the police refusing to allow protesters entry to a cordoned area on security grounds. The protesters know that if they breach the cordon, they will be arrested and charged with trespass. Some may choose not to comply and engage instead in civil disobedience, but in doing so they make a conscious decision to resist the coercive power of the police.* EBD curs where a person complies because they have no choice not to. This type of power can include physical compulsion such as using a weapon to force compliance. It includes governments engaging in armed warfare. Except for the last two types, there may be no observable conflict in many of these situations because power is exercised covertly. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to assume that power is not present in a capacity or that it is not being exercised in all of these examples. Indeed, subtle and pervasive forms of power can be very powerful. In this sense, the two-dimensional view of power is more convincing than the one-dimensional view, and it adds depth to our understand- ing of power. Table 1.2 describes th i However, there are of the wo-dimensions Lukes’ solution to this dilemma is to advo is occurs through socialisation, whereby individuals are shaped by a set of belief systems and social practices that they accept because they ~ uaa ted to them by parents, school or the media. But individual socialisation is not the only way ideas influence choices and the formation of preferences. Ideas, values and ideologies influence us in ways we are TABLE 1.2 Two-dimensional power Concept of power Power as decision-making and agenda-setting Where is power exercised? Formal political arena and informal processes that privilege some political players and exclude others How is power measured? _By examining the informal processes which contribute to agenda-setting and exclusion Source: adapted from Hay 2002, p. 180. Power and politics 13 often not conscious of and lead us to hold certain views. Sometimes dominant ideas in a society can suppress dissent and produce an appearance of consensus. Lukes reminds us that ‘the most effective and insidious use of power is to prevent --. conflict from arising in the first place’ (2005, p. 27). Where consensus exists, it may not be a genuine consensus but rather a manifestation of power. In the three-dimensional view of power, before decision-making even takes place, dominant ideas, values and beliefs affect the range of choices regarded as viable. Table 1.3 describes the three-dimensional view of power. Although the three-dimensional view emphasises invisible manifestations of power, is it also conceivable that rulers could intentionally shape the preferences of their subjects through the use of ideological power? Lukes says it is, but at the point that ‘t can operate even where there is no Ive: (2005, p. 136). Lukes has also responded to criticism that his third dimension of power seems to cast people as passive ‘dopes’ who are oblivious to their circumstances and cannot know their real interests. If they are taken in by the views around them without knowing it, doesn’t that make them passive and casily manipulated? Is this an insufficient view of people’s capacity for independent thought and decision-making? Lukes answers this by saying that power’s third dimension can be only partially effective; it can be resisted as well as complied with, and com- pliance can be willing or unwilling. The complex range of responses to the third TABLE 1.3 Three-dimensional power Concept of power Power as decision-making, agenda-setting and preference shaping. Power is expressed in values, ideas and ideologies Where is power exercised? _In society generally, in all interactions between political actors within a community How is power measured? _Three-dimensional power is largely invisible. It shapes preferences and values through ideas and values, and is expressed in discourse Source: adapted from Hay 2002, p. 180.14 powenscare dimension of power include the possibility that ‘one can consent to power and resent the mode of its exercise’ (2005, p. 150). Having discussed all three dimensions of power, we can understand the three- dimensional view of power by presenting it visually and by looking at a concrete example of power in practice. This helps us to understand that the three- dimensional view does not ignore the insights of the first two ways of understanding power. On the contrary, it integrates them while also looking at broader factors influencing the way power is exercised in society. The third dimension is cumulative and includes the insights of the first two. Figure 1.1 captures the essence of this multi-dimensional view of power. FIGURE 1.1 Politics and power in three dimensions Three-dimensional view Two-dimensional view adds notion that some views are privileged and others marginalised or excluded, so power can be covert One-dimensional view focuses on decision-making which represents direct, observable conflict includes understanding that social and cultural factors and values limit the Potential range of choices, values and preferences in subtle and cumulative ways Power and politics 15 Three-dimensional power in operation: education In the 2007 federal election campaign, Kevin Rudd promised that his government, if elected, would introduce an ‘education revolution’. Central to this was funding to ensure that all year 9 to 12 students around the nation have computers and broadband access, which would cost $1 billion over four years. At the Labor Party federal election campaign launch in Brisbane on 14 November, Rudd stated: Nation building requires vision. And the cornerstone of my vision for Australia’s future is an education revolution. I spoke about Australia’s need for an education revolution in my very first speech to Parliament nearly 10 years ago. I have been speaking about it all year. Because I believe passionately in the power of education. I believe education is the engine room of equity. The engine room of opportunity. And the engine room of the economy... We need nothing less than an education revolution now. A revolution in the quantum of our national investment across the entire education spectrum. And a revolution in the quality of those investments—to improve radically the performance of the education system ... Today I announce that if elected, Federal Labor will undertake - a ground-breaking reform by providing every Australian secondary school student in years nine to 12 with access to their own computer at school. This is an education revolution. (Rudd 2007b) After the election, the Rudd Labor government moved to implement this policy. It initiated a national audit of existing computer infrastructure to identify the schools most in need, and discussed the policy at a Council of ‘Australian Governments meeting in December. At that meeting it was agreed that schools with the scarcest resources would be the first to be allo- cated funds (Ferrari 2007). In addition, a cyber safety policy is to be implemented, and the professional development of existing and trainee teachers will need to be adjusted to provide teachers with the skills to use computers as a teaching tool (Gillard 2007). The scheme has been criticised on a number of grounds. Education expert Kevin Donnelly has argued that there is little research demonstrating the educational benefits of having computers in schools (Donnelly 2007a).He also criticised what he sees as the Labor party's ‘utilitarian! approach to education in which education is seen as useful because it contributes to economic productivity, rather than because of its inherent abi cultivate individuals’ creativity and intellectual life by enhancing knowledge (Donnelly 20076). What were the competing demands on the Prime Minister that led to his decision to implement the ‘education revolution’ policy, and what does the intro- duction of this scheme tell us about power in contemporary Australian politics? In the one-dimensional view of power, the introduction of this scheme tells an observer that the Prime Minister successfully campaigned for and then introduced a new policy that implemented changes to secondary education throughout the country. He did so immediately after winning an election in which he campaigned on the issue. This represents a clear exercise of authorita- tive, observable, decision-making power. If the introduction of the scheme were to be viewed through a two- dimensional view of power, the picture becomes a little more complicated. In a two-dimensional view we may develop a different understanding of how power was exercised by examining broader influences on the introduction of this scheme, and which appear to have been more influential or dominant, For example, in its campaign platform the Labor Party expressed the belief that ‘To stay competitive in a digital economy Australia must accept the fact that computer technology is no longer just a key subject to learn, it is now the key to learning in almost every subject’ (ALP 20074). In making this claim it drew on research conducted by the federal Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA 2004) showing how critical the use of infor- preys hake Aoi tanto et MA ( velopment (OECD 2006 cited in ALP 2007b, p. 5) on computer use in schools in indicated that a third of Australia’s secondary stude technology in an environment where a shortage learning The OECD report also claimed that inves nology can lead to a greater competitive advantage in forty-one countries, which nts are taught information of resources hinders their tment in information tech- global markets, and that in Power and politics 17 Nevertheless, the same report indicated that on many indicators. Australian students’ use of and access to computer technology ranked very highly, with Australian students typically having had access to computers and the internet for longer than students in many other countries and Australia ranked third highest (after Denmark and Liechtenstein) for the percentage of students reporting that they had access to a computer. The number of users per computer is compara- tively low, although rural locations fared worse than urban centres (OECD 2006, pp. 18-19, 20, 26, 29). These research findings could be taken as an indication that greater government support is needed to enable students to have access to computer technology in their everyday schooling. On the other hand, since Australia is already performing quite well in comparison with other OECD countries, arguments could be made that the policy insufficiently recognises existing infrastructure and performance given the very large amount of money that has been committed. A two-dimensional view of power allows us to look at the introduction of this policy with a more critical view of the factors affecting its introduction and likely success. A three-dimensional view of power would look even more broadly at the scheme as an example of the implementation of social values and ideals. In the debate around the scheme we can see differences between the Prime Minister's belief that providing computer access for all will ensure equity and equal oppor- tunity to secondary students, and that it will enhance economic performance. On the other hand a belief has been expressed that investment in education ought not to rely on calculations of its usefulness to the economy, but that instead edu- cation should be seen as an intrinsic good that enhances each individual's own potential. These larger debates concern fundamental values and underlying philosophical views over how best to allocate government resources: collectively or individually, for the social good or for individual benefit. Understanding the development of this policy within a three-dimensional view demonstrates that the introduction of the education revolution by the Rudd Labor government represented complex interactions over power. Understanding this policy in the three-dimensional view allows us to analyse and begin to under- stand why competing claims exist that appear to contradict each other, and that there is little ‘truth’ in political debates. Rather, debates expressing differing views about how political interactions take place and who exercises power within them need to be analysed.Understanding power in this way does not mean that we prescribe how power ought to be exercised. Rather, in adopting a three-dimensional view we ate recog- nising the competing dimensions of power and ways of secing what is taking place in political dynamics. We are not prescribing a way of viewing Australian political practice, rather we are providing the tools to make readers capable of analysing Australian political practice well. Key aspects of power To summarise, there are some key aspects of understanding power in the way that Lukes advocates. These include that power: can be exercised covertly or overtly can be exercised individually and collectively can exist as a capacity, even where conflict is not observable can be exercised in ways that are not directly observable and quantifiable, and is an expression of underlying social and cultural processes and ideas. re oetieegic. es is definition ‘asses = mu a and —_ upor to examine a political community such as Australia provides a framework within which a range of actors may be examined as legitimate constituent parts of the study of politics. This definition provides an analytical framework that not only Permits us but also requires us to look beyond the formal institutions of politics that are normally the focus of Australian politics studies, and include extra. Parliamentary organisations, newly emerging social groups, and individuals who interact with the system. Lukes describes power as a concept ‘which is ineradicably val f (2005, p. 30). Because a person's view of a Macinfac s power is so closely related to th overall framework for understanding politics, itis important to clarify it at cc Power and politics 19 policy processes, their likelihood of success and the formation of their values, desites and preferences. Summary * Power is an essentially contested concept, which is best understood as a multi- faceted capacity in relationships between people, processes and institutions. * Understanding how power is mediated requires examining power in a three- dimensional way, taking into account the unconscious shaping of preferences, desires and values as well as covert and overt types of power exertion and capacity. * Australian political processes are undergoing continuous engagement with, and deliberation over, power. Further reading Foucault, Michel 1995, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 2nd edn, Vintage Books, New York. Lukes, Steven 2005S, Power: A Radical View, 2nd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire; 1st edn 1974. Mortis, Peter 2002, Power: A Philosopbical Analysis, 2nd edn, Manchester Univer- sity Press, Manchester. Reynolds, Paul 1991, Political Sociology: An Australian Perspective, Longman Chesire, Melbourne.