Political power
Political Power is a type of power that a person or a group holds in a society. There are many ways to hold such power, the most obvious one is to be the official political leader of a state, such as a president, prime minister, king (or emperor). Political powers are not limited to the heads of states, and the extent of such power is related to the societal influence that the person or the group has, and can be held and utilized formally or informally. In many cases the sphere of influence is not contained within a single state and we talk of international power. Traditionally political power has been built up and maintained through exercising military power, accumulating wealth and acquiring knowledge.Throughout history there have been many examples of political power being used destructively or senselessly (abuse of power). This has happened most frequently when too much power has been concentrated in too few hands, without enough room for political debate, public criticism, and other types of correctives. Examples of such regimes are despotism, tyranny, dictatorship, etc. To counter such potential problems people have thought of and practised different solutions, most of them related to sharing of power (such as democracy), limitations on the extent of power one individual or group can have, and giving individuals protective rights through legislation or charters (such as human rights). Charles de Montesquieu claimed that without following a principle of containing and balancing legislative, executive and judiciary powers there is no freedom and no protection against abuse of power. This is the Separation of powers principle.
See also: Power (international)
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