Valeria Valega 14195550 23/09/2022

Name: Valeria Valega

Student number: 14195550
Tutorial group number: 4
Name tutor: Antoine Germain
Assignment number: 1
Date: 23/09/2022
Number of words: 1100
Valeria Valega 14195550 23/09/2022

Power: an understanding of how it shapes our world

The creation of the biggest oil companies during the late 18th and early 19th centuries
marked a critical point in the industry (Ali 2019). However, the impact of how much these
energies contribute to global warming is an ongoing dispute between big businessman and
scientists, as seen in Frontline’s three-part documentary “The Power of Big Oil” (2022).
Therefore, there’s an important word that comes in hand with this issue: power. Lukes’ study
in his book “Power: A Radical View” (1974) explains this essentially contested concept from
three different dimensions. This perspective then, makes it possible to analyze situations where
power is present in a much deeper level. Hence, the following essay will analyze how these
three dimensions of power can be seen and applied in the Big Oil industry.

The first dimension of power can be explained as the ability to choose decisions and
outcomes (Dahl 1957: 203). There are key characteristics it covers: it happens inside the
political decision-making arena, there’s a clear and existing conflict, its observable and it
focuses on behaviorism (Lukes 1974: 25). Clear examples of this dimension are policy-making
and the passing of bills in government, which are a form of coercing power against someone
else’s interests. This is shown when president Trump got into office, as he withdrew from the
Paris agreement pledged during Obama’s term and killed the Clean Power Plan, which put
limits on methane emissions and promoted renewable energies (Frontline 2022). These policies
were immediately effective and Trump had the ability to choose decisions and outcomes on
climate change. The exercise of power is observable as it is made inside the political decision-
making arena, by getting rid of policies that restrained the use of fossil fuels. Moreover, there
is an overt conflict, because there is a battle between investing on clean energies against
keeping on fostering oil and gas, where the latter decision won, as it is in the interest of the
group in power. Furthermore, we can further see how Trump exercised his power outside the
one-dimensional view.

The second dimension of power is all about the ability to choose which issues get into
the agenda and are important to deal with (Bachrach and Baratz 1970, 8). It has as clear
concepts the control of the agenda, non-decision making and what happens behind the scenes
into which topics get discussed (Lukes 1974, 25). With Trump in office, he delayed and
repealed dozens of environmental regulations made in Obama’s mandate (Frontline 2022). This
is a clear example of preventing conflicts to get into the decision-making and actually deciding
Valeria Valega 14195550 23/09/2022

which other discussions do make it through; in this case, the push for fossil fuels. Manipulating
the agenda into favoring only a certain group is a way of two-dimensional power, by shutting
other groups grievances into making it to the political decision-making arena (Lukes 1974, 26).
Additionally, another concept on the second dimension is also made clear with Trump in
power. The mobilization of bias, as Bachrach and Baratz claim, is the set of institutional
procedures and a set of rules to benefit certain groups. These people then hold a position of
power to defend and promote their interests (1970: 43-4). By appointing former CEO of
ExxonMobile, Rex Tillerson, as Secretary General (Frontline 2022), it is shown how he was
able to take his own agenda on the oil and gas industry to the government and therefore create
policies that could benefit him and the industry, protecting his interests and at the same time,
promoting the use of fossil fuels. The mobilization of bias is seen as a displacement and
omission of climate change policies because a person in power has the ability to do so and
instead, promote their interests. Yet, the problem goes deeper and can also be seen from the
third-dimensional view of power.

The third dimension of power focuses on the ability to choose the belief society holds
(Lukes 2021). This can be seen as the root of power, as it’s all about preference shaping and
focuses on how people’s ideas get shaped (Lukes 1974, 27). Here, people are influenced by
powerful people and groups, through propaganda and censorship (ibid). Power is seen as a
form of domination where there doesn’t need to be an observable conflict, as these are all the
ways in which people in a position of dominance can get people willingly into submitting to
power without fighting back (ibid). During the documentary “The Power of Big Oil” (2022),
it is shown how propaganda and media influence can quickly shape people’s ideas and beliefs.
As Sharon Wilson, a scientist that created a device that actually proved methane leakage, states,
she “cannot compete with the oil and gas industry PR budget that they use to pump propaganda
at us” (2022), which leaves her in a powerless position to spread the truth. When someone has
such power that they can shape others opinions about a certain topic, the battle is already won,
as people won’t even question the decision-making as they see it as something beneficial for
them. This was also clearly seen when institutions such as the National Academy of Science
and Americas Natural Gas Alliance claimed that the report professor Ingraffea published on
the dangers of fracking and its methane leakage, was an overestimation of the actual leaks and
methane’s impact as a greenhouse gas (Frontline 2022). When so-called respectable institutions
claim statements as such, it shows the impact big institutions have on societies shaping of
Valeria Valega 14195550 23/09/2022

opinions. Therefore, the climate crisis won’t be solved until the misinformation crisis is solved
first (Frontline 2022).

Finally, the three dimensions are linked with each other as Lukes explains that the
reason why he uses the word ‘dimension’ is because “if you can see power in three dimensions
it means you are seeing further and deeper into the phenomenon” (2021). By using the word
dimension, the concept of power elevates from only responding to one certain definition with
set parameters, to englobing a much bigger and complicated scenario that has multiple aspects
attached to it. The three dimensions differ from each other since they pose different
characteristics, but they also relate to each other because they cover power in a holistic way. It
explains how it is exerted in a spectrum and it is not just black and white. Thus, the third-
dimensional view demonstrates that power doesn’t have to be observable but it rather can be
so imperceptible it’s looks natural. Therefore, his view can be applied anywhere, as it covers
all aspects of a position of power regardless of time.

Bibliography:

Ali, Umar. (2019) “The history of the oil and gas industry from 347 AD to today”, Offshore
Technology, https://www.offshore-technology.com/comment/history-oil-
gas/#:~:text=The%20modern%20history%20of%20the,thicker%20oil%20suitable%20for%2
0lubrication. Consulted on September 21 2022.

Dahl, R.A. (1957). The Concept of Power. Behavioral Science, 2(3), 201-215

Frontline (2022). “The Power of Big Oil”. PBS, 3 May.

IAPSS (International Association for Political Science Students) (2021) Steven Lukes
Explains the Third Dimension of Power. June 25.

Lukes, S. (1974). Power. A Radical View. Houndmills: Macmillan Press ltd.

Valeria Valega 14195550 23/09/2022