power and authority essay plans

Power And Authority: The Structures of Governance 

Power and authority are integral to political systems and vital in shaping governance structures and societal dynamics.

Understanding the complex interplay between power and control is crucial for comprehending how political systems function and their impact on individuals and communities.

This article will explore the intricate realm of power and authority, exploring their definitions, importance, and how they shape governance structures.

By utilizing the capabilities of a thesis generator , we will uncover unique perspectives and valuable insights to shed light on the dynamics of power and authority in politics.

Table of Contents

Defining Power and Authority: Key Concepts in Political Governance

Power is the capacity to exert influence or control over others. It can appear in various ways, including physical strength, wealth, information, or persuasive abilities.

On the other hand, the term “authority” refers to the legitimate right to use force. It is drawn from the approval and permission of the governed. Authority giving power a recognized and approved status offers a framework for using the power within established norms and regulations.

Must Read Guide – 9 Key Differences Between Power and Authority

Traditional Authority: The Impact of Customary Practices on Power Structures

Traditions, beliefs, and long-standing practices are the foundation of traditional authority. It is frequently linked to tribal or hereditary monarchs where authority is passed down through the generations.

The perception of the traditions and conventions upon which traditional management is based determines its legitimacy. However, conventional authority may confront difficulties when civilizations change, and new power structures form in contemporary society.

Legal-Rational Authority: Power Embedded in Institutional Frameworks

Legal-rational authority is based on formal rules and institutional frameworks. It is typically found in democratic societies, where power is derived from positions within established institutions and organizations.

This authority is grounded in the rule of law and adherence to constitutional processes. The legal-rational authority provides a system of checks and balances that ensure the exercise of power remains within defined boundaries and is subject to accountability.

Charismatic Authority: Exploring the Influence of Personal Qualities in Leadership

Charismatic authority arises from the personal qualities and charisma of an individual leader. Charismatic leaders can inspire and mobilize others through their unique qualities, vision, or persuasive abilities.

This type of authority often emerges during times of crisis or social upheaval, as charismatic leaders can rally support and drive significant change. However, charismatic authority can also be volatile, as it heavily relies on the personality and influence of the leader.

Power and Decision-Making: Understanding the Complex Interplay

Power impacts decision-making processes within political frameworks. Those in influential positions shape policies, allocate resources, and set plans.

The dispersion of power within a society or establishment determines who has a say in decision-making and whose interests are prioritized. Nonetheless, the direction isn’t exclusively directed by power dynamics. Different elements, like general assessment, institutional systems, and balanced governance, additionally play vital roles.

The Role of Institutions: Navigating Power and Authority in Governance

Institutions are fundamental structures within political systems that exercise power and authority. These can include branches of government, legislative bodies, judicial systems, and bureaucratic organizations.

Institutions serve as mechanisms to distribute, balance, and check the exercise of power. They provide frameworks for decision-making, policy implementation, and accountability. Well-functioning institutions are essential for maintaining stability and upholding the principles of governance.

Must Read Guide- Governance: Meaning, Definition, 4 Dimensions, And Types

Social Developments and Power: Catalysts for Transforming Political Structures

Social developments are fundamental in testing existing power structures and supporting change. These developments frequently emerge from societal discontent with the state of affairs and try to address social, monetary, or political disparities.

By assembling aggregate activity and bringing issues to light, social developments can apply strain on people with significant influence, shaping policies and agendas. They can be powerful catalysts for societal transformation.

Must Read Guide- Good Governance: Definitions, 8 Characteristics, And Importance

Democracy: Power and Authority through the Consent of the Governed

Democracy is a system of governance that emphasizes the participation and consent of the governed. In democratic societies, power and authority derive from the people’s will, who elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.

Democratic systems aim to distribute power and provide mechanisms for accountability, transparency, and the protection of individual rights. Democracy seeks to ensure that power is exercised with the consent and for the benefit of the governed.

Implications of Power and Authority: Shaping Political Systems and Society

The distribution and exercise of power and authority have profound implications for political systems and society. Power imbalances can lead to social, economic, and political inequalities, affecting the lives of individuals and communities.

The consolidation of power in the hands of a few can hinder progress, stifle dissent, and perpetuate injustice. Understanding these implications is crucial for designing governance systems that promote fairness, equality, and societal well-being.

Building Legitimacy and Trust: The Significance of Consent in Governance

Legitimacy and trust are vital elements for effective governance. Legitimate power and authority are built upon the consent and acceptance of the people.

When individuals perceive those in power as fair, they are more likely to comply with laws, participate in decision-making processes, and support governance efforts. Building trust requires transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to the needs and aspirations of the people.

Preventing Abuse of Power: Safeguards, Transparency, and Accountability

Power can result in corruption, repression, and the infringement of human rights. Putting in place safeguards, fostering transparency, and ensuring the enforcement of accountability mechanisms are fundamental to preventing such abuses.

These measures encompass impartial judicial systems, vigorous oversight organizations, whistleblower protections, and a free press. By guaranteeing transparency and holding individuals in positions of influence responsible, societies can mitigate the risks associated with the misuse of power.

Power, Authority, and Social Change: Advancing Equality and Progress

Social developments can shape political frameworks and cultivate progress by challenging harsh frameworks and upholding minimized gatherings. The interplay between power, authority, and social change is intricate and requires progressing exchange, coordinated effort, and commitment to advance equality and societal prosperity.

Power elements altogether influence social change. Social developments, driven by a craving for equality, equity, and human rights, challenge existing power structures and promote transformative change.

Power and authority are fundamental parts of political governance. Grasping their definitions, dynamics, and suggestions is significant for comprehending the structures and working of governance frameworks.

The interaction between conventional authority, legitimate, reasonable authority, and charismatic authority shapes emotional cycles, the job of establishments, and the potential for social change.

Building authentic, responsible, and comprehensive frameworks guarantees that power is practiced capably and in the best interest of society. Social orders can advance trust, support, and progress by taking a stab at evenhanded and straightforward governance.

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The Concepts of Power and Authority Essay

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Many people use the words “authority” and “power” interchangeably. However, these words have some striking differences in their meanings. Political thinkers explain the concept of power using individuals who hold specific positions. The term “power” refers to a person’s ability to control other people’s thoughts, actions, beliefs, or ideas (Garner, Ferdinand, Lawson & Macdonald, 2012). The concept of power goes further to explain how individuals can realize their potentials or achieve a specific “end” (Garner et al., 2012). More often than not, power is what gives people the capability to influence others. An influential person will encourage others to carry out specific actions.

The concept of authority explains how a person can command or control a specific situation. Authority is usually the ability to make others do a person’s will. The concept of authority explains how certain people can enforce various orders or demand obedience from other people. Authority is the right to get things and ideas executed by other people. Those who have authority can make decisions and give orders accordingly (Garner et al., 2012). One thing about management is that it is closely related to power. However, the authority has “degrees.” This explains why certain people, such as dictators, have complete authority to execute whatever they wish. This is not the case for a “powerful” person.

From the discussion presented above, it is easier to apply these two concepts to specific individuals and institutions’ role. To begin with, the idea of authority is correctly applied to a Canadian Supreme Court Justice because the court can pass legislation and influence certain practices and laws in the country. The Supreme Court can command a specific situation or legislation. The country’s president might not be able to control or make a decision about particular legislation (Garner et al., 2012). The Supreme Court always passes legislation, thus reshaping the laws governing the country.

The concept of power can be used more appropriately to describe the role of the American president. The idea defines management as a position or office held by an individual. However, the concept of force is applied to the president’s roles because they lack the authority to execute or do anything they wish. The president will need to get the approval of the Senate or Congress before making individual decisions (De Crespigny & Vertheimer, 2012). This explains why the American president is powerful but lacks the authority to pass legislation or do whatever he or she wishes.

The concept of authority will apply appropriately to the role of a biker gang. It is the role of the gang leader to give orders and make decisions for the biker gang. More often, the leaders will enforce obedience and make the members of the team carry out their orders (Garner et al., 2012). Most of the biker gangs tend to have different leadership structures. However, a majority of these leaders have a sense of autonomy. Most of them have a “complete” command or control over their specific gangs. The above analysis clearly explains how people use the concepts of authority and power interchangeably, depending on the situation (De Crespigny & Vertheimer, 2012).

How the State Shapes the Culture of a Nation

It is agreeable that every nation has a unique culture. A nation’s culture is a set of customs, behaviors, practices, and beliefs existing in a specific sovereign country. The culture of a particular nation is evident in its societies. For instance, companies usually develop institutional or leadership practices in accordance with their cultural aspects. The state has a role in shaping the culture of its people. This will eventually contribute a lot to the national culture. The government (or the state) sets laws and legislations aimed at restraining men from interfering with each other (Blad, 2011). At the same time, the government encourages its people to embrace certain beliefs and cultural behaviors. The idea promotes the image of their nation. The state also dictates various policies, thus controlling the economic and social issues affecting the people.

For example, the United States encouraged its citizens to adhere to the idea of “radical individualism.” As well, the American government embraced the wave of capitalism, which helped reshape the values, beliefs, and cultural aspects of the country. This explains why the country’s culture has succeeded over the decades. The state uses legislation and governance strategies to shape the culture and traditions of its people (Wolff, 2006). The government also preserves various heritage centers and encourages its citizens to pursue individual goals and religious practices. Such practices are unique to the United States. This explains how different states have succeeded in reshaping an exceptional nation’s culture.

Reference List

Blad, C. (2011). Neo-liberalism and National Culture: State-Building and Legitimacy in Canada and Quebec. Leiden: Brill Publishers.

De Crespigny, A., & Vertheimer, A. (2012). Power, Authority, Justice, and Rights: Studies in Political Obligations. New York: Transaction Publishers.

Garner, R., Ferdinand, P., Lawson, S., & Macdonald, D. (2012). Introduction to Politics . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wolff, J. (2006). An Introduction to Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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17.1 Power and Authority

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Define and differentiate between power and authority
• Identify and describe the three types of authority

The world has almost 200 countries. Many of those countries have states or provinces with their own governments. In some countries such as the United States and Canada, Native Americans and First Nations have their own systems of government in some relationship with the federal government. Just considering those thousands of different entities, it's easy to see what differentiates governments. What about what they have in common? Do all of them serve the people? Protect the people? Increase prosperity?

The answer to those questions might be a matter of opinion, perspective, and circumstance. However, one reality seems clear: Something all governments have in common is that they exert control over the people they govern. The nature of that control—what we will define as power and authority—is an important feature of society.

Sociologists have a distinctive approach to studying governmental power and authority that differs from the perspective of political scientists. For the most part, political scientists focus on studying how power is distributed in different types of political systems. They would observe, for example, that the United States’ political system is divided into three distinct branches (legislative, executive, and judicial), and they would explore how public opinion affects political parties, elections, and the political process in general. Sociologists, however, tend to be more interested in the influences of governmental power on society and in how social conflicts arise from the distribution of power. Sociologists also examine how the use of power affects local, state, national, and global agendas, which in turn affect people differently based on status, class, and socioeconomic standing.

What Is Power?

For centuries, philosophers, politicians, and social scientists have explored and commented on the nature of power. Pittacus (c. 640–568 B.C.E.) opined, “The measure of a man is what he does with power,” and Lord Acton perhaps more famously asserted, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887). Indeed, the concept of power can have decidedly negative connotations, and the term itself is difficult to define.

Many scholars adopt the definition developed by German sociologist Max Weber, who said that power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others (Weber 1922). Power affects more than personal relationships; it shapes larger dynamics like social groups, professional organizations, and governments. Similarly, a government’s power is not necessarily limited to control of its own citizens. A dominant nation, for instance, will often use its clout to influence or support other governments or to seize control of other nation states. Efforts by the U.S. government to wield power in other countries have included joining with other nations to form the Allied forces during World War II, entering Iraq in 2002 to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, and imposing sanctions on the government of North Korea in the hopes of constraining its development of nuclear weapons.

Endeavors to gain power and influence do not necessarily lead to violence, exploitation, or abuse. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi, for example, commanded powerful movements that effected positive change without military force. Both men organized nonviolent protests to combat corruption and injustice and succeeded in inspiring major reform. They relied on a variety of nonviolent protest strategies, such as rallies, sit-ins, marches, petitions, and boycotts.

Modern technology has made such forms of nonviolent reform easier to implement. Often, protesters can use cell phones and the Internet to disseminate information and plans to masses of protesters in a rapid and efficient manner. Some governments like Myanmar, China, and Russia tamp down communication and protest through platform bans or Internet blocks (see the Media and Technology chapter for more information). But in the Arab Spring uprisings of 2010-11, for example, Twitter feeds and other social media helped protesters coordinate their movements, share ideas, and bolster morale, as well as gain global support for their causes. Social media was also important in getting accurate accounts of the demonstrations out to the world, in contrast to many earlier situations in which government control of the media censored news reports. Notice that in these examples, the users of power were the citizens rather than the governments. They found they had power because they were able to exercise their will over their own leaders. Thus, government power does not necessarily equate to absolute power.

Big Picture

Social media as a terrorist tool.

British aid worker, Alan Henning, was the fourth victim of the Islamic State (known as ISIS or ISIL) to be beheaded before video cameras in a recording titled, “Another Message to America and Its Allies,” which was posted on YouTube and pro-Islamic state Twitter feeds in the fall of 2014. Henning was captured during his participation in a convoy taking medical supplies to a hospital in conflict-ravaged northern Syria. His death was publicized via social media, as were the earlier beheadings of U.S. journalists Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines. The terrorist groups also used social media to demand an end to intervention in the Middle East by U.S., British, French, and Arab forces.

An international coalition, led by the United States, has been formed to combat ISIS in response to this series of publicized murders. France and the United Kingdom, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and Belgium are seeking government approval through their respective parliaments to participate in airstrikes. The specifics of target locations are a key point, however, and they emphasize the delicate and political nature of current conflict in the region. Due to perceived national interest and geopolitical dynamics, Britain and France are more willing to be a part of airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iran and likely to avoid striking targets in Syria. Several Arab nations are a part of the coalition, including Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, another NATO member, has not announced involvement in airstrikes, presumably because ISIS is holding forty-nine Turkish citizens hostage.

U.S. intervention in Libya and Syria is controversial, and it arouses debate about the role of the United States in world affairs, as well as the practical need for, and outcome of, military action in the Middle East. Experts and the U.S. public alike are weighing the need for fighting terrorism in its current form of the Islamic State and the bigger issue of helping to restore peace in the Middle East. Some consider ISIS a direct and growing threat to the United States if left unchecked. Others believe U.S. intervention unnecessarily worsens the Middle East situation and prefer that resources be used at home rather than increasing military involvement in an area of the world where they believe the United States has intervened long enough.

Types of Authority

The protesters in Tunisia and the civil rights protesters of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s day had influence apart from their position in a government. Their influence came, in part, from their ability to advocate for what many people held as important values. Government leaders might have this kind of influence as well, but they also have the advantage of wielding power associated with their position in the government. As this example indicates, there is more than one type of authority in a community.

Authority refers to accepted power—that is, power that people agree to follow. People listen to authority figures because they feel that these individuals are worthy of respect. Generally speaking, people perceive the objectives and demands of an authority figure as reasonable and beneficial, or true.

Not all authority figures are police officers, elected officials or government authorities. Besides formal offices, authority can arise from tradition and personal qualities. Economist and sociologist Max Weber realized this when he examined individual action as it relates to authority, as well as large-scale structures of authority and how they relate to a society’s economy. Based on this work, Weber developed a classification system for authority. His three types of authority are traditional authority, charismatic authority and legal-rational authority (Weber 1922).

Traditional Authority

According to Weber, the power of traditional authority is accepted because that has traditionally been the case; its legitimacy exists because it has been accepted for a long time. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, for instance, occupies a position that she inherited based on the traditional rules of succession for the monarchy. People adhere to traditional authority because they are invested in the past and feel obligated to perpetuate it. In this type of authority, a ruler typically has no real force to carry out his will or maintain his position but depends primarily on a group’s respect.

A more modern form of traditional authority is patrimonialism , which is traditional domination facilitated by an administration and military that are purely personal instruments of the master (Eisenberg 1998). In this form of authority, all officials are personal favorites appointed by the ruler. These officials have no rights, and their privileges can be increased or withdrawn based on the caprices of the leader. The political organization of ancient Egypt typified such a system: when the royal household decreed that a pyramid be built, every Egyptian was forced to work toward its construction.

Traditional authority can be intertwined with race, class, and gender. In most societies, for instance, men are more likely to be privileged than women and thus are more likely to hold roles of authority. Similarly, members of dominant racial groups or upper-class families also win respect more readily. In the United States, the Kennedy family, which has produced many prominent politicians, exemplifies this model.

Charismatic Authority

Followers accept the power of charismatic authority because they are drawn to the leader’s personal qualities. The appeal of a charismatic leader can be extraordinary, and can inspire followers to make unusual sacrifices or to persevere in the midst of great hardship and persecution. Charismatic leaders usually emerge in times of crisis and offer innovative or radical solutions. They may even offer a vision of a new world order. Hitler’s rise to power in the postwar economic depression of Germany is an example.

Charismatic leaders tend to hold power for short durations, and according to Weber, they are just as likely to be tyrannical as they are heroic. Diverse male leaders such as Hitler, Napoleon, Jesus Christ, César Chávez, Malcolm X, and Winston Churchill are all considered charismatic leaders. Because so few women have held dynamic positions of leadership throughout history, the list of charismatic female leaders is comparatively short. Many historians consider figures such as Joan of Arc, Margaret Thatcher, and Mother Teresa to be charismatic leaders.

Rational-Legal Authority

According to Weber, power made legitimate by laws, written rules, and regulations is termed rational-legal authority . In this type of authority, power is vested in a particular rationale, system, or ideology and not necessarily in the person who implements the specifics of that doctrine. A nation that follows a constitution applies this type of authority. On a smaller scale, you might encounter rational-legal authority in the workplace via the standards set forth in the employee handbook, which provides a different type of authority than that of your boss.

Of course, ideals are seldom replicated in the real world. Few governments or leaders can be neatly categorized. Some leaders, like Mohandas Gandhi for instance, can be considered charismatic and legal-rational authority figures. Similarly, a leader or government can start out exemplifying one type of authority and gradually evolve or change into another type.

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Power, Agency, and Voice

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About This Text Set

Adolescence is a time of growth and opportunity—a time when young adults transition from childhood dependence to adult independence. From around age ten until their early twenties, they are building the skills to make their own decisions, developing new interests, and setting goals for their future. This is an important time for students to learn about the concept of agency and the role it can play in their decision-making process. 

The resources and activities in this text set help students to recognize the power they do have and the many factors that can influence their agency in moments of decision-making. Recognizing their own individual and collective agency can help them to feel more in control of their lives and develop confidence and conviction in their ideas, decisions, and voices.

Essential Question

How do I empower myself to speak up and take action on behalf of myself and others?

What’s Included

This text set supports a 1–2 week exploration of power, agency, and voice. It includes:

1 Power, Agency, and Voice Text Set overview 6 lessons 4 personal narrative essays, available in English and Spanish 1 informational text, available in English, Spanish, and a version adapted for English learners 1 short story, available in English and Spanish 6 handouts, available in English and Spanish 1 video and accompanying transcript 1 summative assessment

Preparing to Teach

A note to teachers.

Before teaching this text set, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.

Navigating This Text Set

Use this text set to introduce or supplement a coming-of-age literature or book club unit or as a standalone mini-unit. The lessons are intended to be taught in the order they are presented over the course of one to two weeks, depending on the length of your class periods and whether or not students complete some of the reading for homework. Each lesson is aligned to guiding questions and Facing History learning outcomes, with activities to help students engage with the texts critically, emotionally, and ethically. While the activities are deliberately sequenced to bring students into and out of conversations about power, agency, and voice with care, you may need to adapt them, as well as the summative assessment, for your unique classroom context.

Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes

The three Facing History learning objectives at the heart of any ELA unit address students’ cognitive, emotional, and moral growth. ​​Aligned to each learning objective are specific learning outcomes, which describe the observable and measurable knowledge, skills, attitudes, and dispositions students develop over the course of the unit. 

Learning Objective 1: Explore the Complexity of Identity Learning Outcomes:

Examine how their identity is a combination of who they say they are, who others say they are, and who they hope to be in the future. Engage with real and imagined stories that help them understand their own coming-of-age experiences and how others experience the world.

Learning Objective 2: Process Texts through a Critical and Ethical Lens Learning Outcomes:

Practice perspective-taking in order to develop empathy and recognize the limits of any one person’s point of view. Identify examples of injustice and unfairness in the literature they read and in the world today. Examine how an individual’s identity, group membership, and relationship to systems of inequity can impact their sense of who they are and their agency when faced with a moral dilemma or choice.

Learning Objective 3: Develop a Sense of Civic Agency Learning Outcomes:

Analyze the author’s representation of individual and collective agency in the text, and compare and contrast it to their own beliefs and experiences in the world. Recognize that their decisions matter, impact others, and shape their communities and the world.

Read more about and download Facing History’s ELA learning objectives and outcomes in Section 3: Begin with the End in Mind of our Coming-of-Age Unit Planning Toolkit.

Related Materials

• Section Begin with the End in Mind

The Foundation of a Reflective Classroom Community

At Facing History, we understand that before students can engage with challenging topics, they need to feel confident that they are part of a brave and reflective community where they are known, valued, and supported by their teachers and peers. This ongoing process starts with personal reflection on the part of the teacher and invites students to help establish and uphold norms for how everyone will treat one another. The following resources and activities can support you and your students in cultivating a brave and reflective community.

Build the Foundation: Learn about the importance of engaging in your own personal reflection before teaching this text set by exploring the resources and teacher-facing activities in Section 1: Start with Yourself of Facing History’s Unit Planning Guide. You can also read “ How to Help Students Believe in Themselves ” from Greater Good magazine to learn about new research that identifies specific steps adults can take to foster student agency and self-efficacy.  Create a Classroom Contract: Prepare students to engage, take risks, and support one another by creating a classroom contract with agreed-upon norms and behaviors that allow every student to feel seen, heard, and valued. If you have already created a contract, set aside time to revisit it at the outset of this unit to recommit to your group’s agreed-upon norms and behaviors. Incorporate Daily Journaling: In addition to creating and upholding the classroom contract, journaling is an instrumental tool for helping students develop their ability to process what they are learning, practice perspective-taking, and make informed judgments about what they see and hear. Providing students with time and space to reflect on complex issues and questions allows them to formulate their ideas before sharing them with their peers.  Write Alongside Your Students: When teachers write with their students and share their writing, no matter how messy or scattered, it sends a powerful message that writing matters, writing is hard, and even teachers don’t get it right the first time. You will create a stronger community of thinkers and writers if you participate in the learning process. If you don’t do so already, consider starting your own journal and joining your students in this exploration of power, agency, and voice. 

• Section Start With Yourself
• Guide Coming-of-Age Educator Workbook
• Teaching Strategy Contracting
• Teaching Strategy Journals in the Classroom
• Link How to Help Students Believe in Themselves

Differentiation Strategies

Differentiation is an approach to teaching and learning that involves purposeful planning and instruction that is responsive to students’ identities and needs as individual learners and members of a larger classroom community. It starts with creating a welcoming environment and includes a high-quality curriculum that everyone can access in order to engage with the targeted concepts and skills. Here are just a few differentiation strategies you might use to help make the content and concepts of this text set accessible to all of your students.

Reading Protocols: Use teaching strategies like Think Aloud , Say Something , and Read Aloud to make visible the often invisible moves you make when engaging with different genres of texts. Then have students practice these moves in pairs before asking them to work alone.  Modeling: Provide students with models to help them understand your expectations for annotating texts, responding to discussion questions, and completing assessments. Ensuring that all students know what quality work looks like increases student agency.  Vocabulary Development: Create a Word Wall to help students keep track of key terms. Encourage students to sketch the terms, using a strategy like Sketch to Stretch , and to incorporate them into their conversations and writing.  Adapted Texts: Consider using the adapted version of the informational text  Introducing Agency and/or Spanish-language versions of readings and handouts for students who benefit from additional scaffolding. For jigsaw activities, we have provided readings with different levels of text complexity and length.  Group Work: Create purposeful groupings of students when asking students to work together. For example, you might pair English Learners with students who share their home language to work through new material before creating heterogeneous language groups for discussions. For activities that include different options for what students read, consider the text complexity, length, and relevance of each reading when creating groups. Some students may have the schema to tackle a more challenging written text if it connects to an interest of theirs or an aspect of their identity.

• Teaching Strategy Think Aloud
• Teaching Strategy Say Something
• Teaching Strategy Read Aloud
• Teaching Strategy Word Wall
• Teaching Strategy Sketch to Stretch

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Political Theory

Essay plans 12 mark Question Direct Democracy Power, Authority, Legitimacy

1-Power-Authority-Legitimacy1

2-Different-Definitions-of-Power

3-Lukes-on-Power

4-Conflict-Theory

5a.-Authority-Max-Weber-Traditional-Authority2

5b-Charismatic-Authority & Legal-Rational

6-Legitimacy

Legitimacy-and-Electoral-Systems-worksheet

P-A-L-20-marker

PAL-Essay-Plan-2019

7-Democracy

Handout- Democracy-Theorists & Features of Direct Democracy

Reading Direct & Representative Democracy:

Direct-Democracy & Representative Democracy 

If you are absent please ensure you catch up on any notes missed.

20 mark Question Democ plan

Key Features of Representative Democracy

Key Features of Direct Democracy

12 mark Question Direct Democracy

ESSAY PLANS:

PAL: 12 mark Power, 12 mark Authority & 20 mark PAL.

PAL essay plans

Democracy essay plans: 12 mark Direct, 12 mark Representative & 20 mark comparison of Representative & Direct

Democracy essay plans

Political Ideologies:

Political Theory Ideologies

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University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

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Powers, Parts and Wholes: Essays on the Mereology of Powers

Christopher J. Austin, Anna Marmodoro, and Andrea Roselli (eds.), Powers, Parts and Wholes: Essays on the Mereology of Powers , Routledge, 2023, 260pp., $180.00 (hbk), ISBN 9781032288567.

Reviewed by Andrew L. McFarland, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

Over the last several decades conversations about dispositions (or powers) have been commonplace among philosophers. [1] According to dispositionalists, properties like fragility are said to have triggers (or stimulus conditions)—like dropping a glass onto the floor—that bring about their manifestations, e.g., breaking, cracking, shattering, etc. What’s more, triggers and manifestations are often claimed to play some sort of individuating role with respect to powers. These considerations raise a philosophical question. Are powers— fragility , flammability , solubility , and the like—ontologically simple or complex? If they are complex, can we understand them compositionally? For example, is breaking a part of the power of fragility ? Or is talk of parthood merely an instance of speaking with the vulgar? This thought-provoking collection of twelve essays edited by Christopher J. Austin, Anna Marmodoro, and Andrea Roselli, addresses the ontological complexity of dispositions. The editors partition the essays into three sections: Part 1, “Parts of Powers” discusses part-whole relations “within a power”; Part 2, “Composition of Powers”, discusses mereological relations “among powers”; Part 3, “Power Mereology in Science” is devoted to issues in the philosophy of science. For this review I will try to summarize some main takeaways from each essay and offer critical and constructive remarks where appropriate.

In their introduction, the editors motivate the discussion with the claim that the literature on powers and dispositions often assumes that powers are simple, fundamental entities. Further, they claim that multi-track accounts—accounts which say that powers are individuated by more than one type of stimulus/manifestation—only “organize the complex manifestation of certain powers into ‘tracks’ but do not explain how this complex manifestation derives from the power” (1). Austin expands on this criticism later in Ch. 3. Multi-tracking accounts only tell us about the “counterfactuals assigned to a single power” (63). This can tell us about the “truthmaking relations that power is involved in”, but “these relations are incapable of providing meaningful information about the nature of powers” (63). Thus, these accounts treat powers as “little more than ‘black boxes’ whose extrinsic complexity stems from a we-know-not-what intrinsic metaphysical foundation” (64).

The first two contributions, Aaron Cotnoir’s chapter, “Carving up the Network of Powers” (Ch. 1), and the second essay from Robert Koons, “Parts and Grounds of Powers” (Ch. 2), are by far the most formal and systematic of the essays.

Cotnoir develops a graph-theoretic network of powers that can—following Plato’s metaphor—be carved according to natural joints, and he considers three methods for carving this network: subcollection , clustering , and coordination . Meanwhile, Koons develops an approach on behalf of the “extreme nominalist” (42), which builds powers out of equivalence classes of conditional facts, and invokes a sui generis conditional that expresses “the fact that if a certain n- tuple of thing were in a certain condition A , some joint power of those things would manifest itself in outcome B ” (42). Both Cotnoir’s and Koons’ systems offer ways to assess the “naturalness” of the resulting complexes: Cotnoir suggests that “unnaturalness” can be measured by the degree of crosscutting between clusters, while Koons suggests a criterion for determining when entities are of the same natural kind.

In Ch. 3, “Complex Powers: Making Many One”, Christopher Austin identifies two ways in which powers can be regarded as complex: “polygeny”—the idea that for a power there can be “many distinct inputs which causally contribute toward the coming about of its manifestation” (61)—and “pleiotrophy”, “which occurs when a single power has many distinct manifestations which may produce from the obtaining of one or more distinct stimuli” (62). An account of the complexity of powers, Austin argues, must accommodate these varieties of complexity in telling a metaphysical story about when many powers become one. After critiquing the metaphysical inadequacy of multi-tracking accounts, he goes on to consider two strategies, essentialist and emergentist accounts, but concludes ultimately that neither of these approaches is satisfactory. However, the main lesson seems to be that an account of the unity of complex powers needs to fall somewhere between accepting mereological fusions and emergence.

In Ch. 4, “Powers as Mereological Lawmakers”, Michael Traynor takes a bottom-up approach about mereological laws. Traynor begins with two Inclusion Principles, along with remarks by George Molnar (2003), to generate an argument that powers can be parts of objects. He goes on to argue that “powers give rise to mereological laws” and considers implications for this claim with respect to debates about whether mereological laws (paralleling similar arguments about laws of nature) are metaphysically necessary or contingent.

Nicky Kroll’s essay, “Determinable Dispositions” (Ch. 5) forgoes a mereological approach altogether and instead assesses the complexity of dispositions in terms of the determinate / determinable relation. Kroll cites Quine’s (1956) observation that desires can be non-specific and goes on to argue that dispositions can be non-specific as well. He goes on to draw three lessons: (i) that determinable dispositions are distinct from multi-track dispositions; (ii) many alleged multi-track dispositions—fragility, irascibility, knowing French—are in fact determinable dispositions; (iii) standard arguments for the claim that a disposition is multi-track turn out to be invalid.

In Ch. 6, Sophie Allen distinguishes between cases of direct composition —the part and the whole are instantiated by the same individual—and cases of indirect composition —cases where an individual is a proper part of another. Allen gives several quite helpful examples, e.g., “The power to spring is part of the power to jump 7.5m.” (113), to make a compelling case that direct composition of powers takes place. However, she gives relatively short shrift to her criticisms of indirect composition. For example, one might appeal to Kathrin Koslicki (2008), whose hylomorphic mereology posits structural proper parts, as a way of \ responding to Allen’s worry about indirect composition violating extensionality.

In Ch. 7, Vera Hoffmann-Kolss explores the non-mereological issue of the logical complexity (i.e., disjunctive) of variables for interventionist models of causation. She argues that interventionist models should make use of disjunctive variables, like “1 if Person P consumes apples or apple products or does not take a pain killer; 0 otherwise”, but that these conflict with proposed definitions “intervention”. However, she claims that these problems can be addressed if interventionists take the values of variables to be properties that “confer conditional causal powers on their bearers” à la Sydney Shoemaker (1980).

In Ch. 8 Xi-Yang Guo and Matthew Tugby sketch and defend an account of collective instantiation analogous to plural instantiation. Key to their argument is the idea of distributive occurrences of predication and instantiation: G occurs distributively where “ the Fs are G is equivalent to each F is G ” (148). For example, “The students in my class are engaged” might distribute to “Each student in my class is engaged”. By contrast, a predicate like “make a star pattern” in “The lights make a star pattern” does not distribute, since the claim is not equivalent to “Each light makes a star pattern”. Thus, according to Guo and Tugby, “make a star pattern” is a non-distributive, collective predicate. However, I’m not so sure that denying distribution entails collectivity. Take examples of generics or bare plurals. “Mosquitos carry yellow fever” does not distribute to “Each mosquito carries yellow fever”. But it also seems incorrect to say that “carries yellow fever” is collectively predicated of the class of all mosquitos since only a couple of species are associated with carrying the disease. Collective predication/instantiation seems to require more than just being non-distributive.

Joaquim Giannotti’s Ch. 9 considers a special composition question about powers (an analogue to the special composition question for material objects), and argues that a modified version of Marmodoro’s (2017) answer is the best way to achieve a restricted (i.e., neither a nihilist nor a universalist) answer to when powers compose. Gianotti goes on to argue that this refined “Marmodoro Condition”, combined with other premises from quantum theory, yields the conclusion that there is an entity he calls the “powerful cosmos”, an object “composed of all the compossible fundamental powers instantiated across the universe” (168).

In Ch. 10 Michele Paolini Paoletti argues for the compatibility of a “naïve view of powers” and the idea that powers compose. According to Paoletti, the “naïve” view holds that there is a “strict, one-to-one correspondence between powers, their bearers, and their manifestations and activations, on the one hand, and the causes, effects, and causal processes on the other” (185). To close out the collection, the third and final section, Part 3, begins with Matteo Morganti’s (Ch. 11) essay, which explores a “Simple Theory” of property composition, where complex properties are “nothing over and above” their constituents, and argues that one can understand the properties of quantum entangled systems by invoking metaphysical coherentism. Simone Gozzano (Ch. 12) completes the collection by considering whether phenomenal states, like tasting white wine, can be considered complex dispositional properties composed of constituents like the experience of the taste of hay, or the taste of green apple. These are further decomposable into protophenomenal atoms, resulting in a picture that fits into current discussions about Russellian monism and panpsychism.

As one can see the essays display at times very different approaches to the question of the complexity of powers. As a result, the attempt to group certain essays into Parts 1, 2, and 3 is a little strained at times. For instance, Cotnoir’s piece on carving a network of powers seemed more appropriate for Part 2 about the relations between powers, while Allen’s might be a better fit for Part 1 on part-whole relations within a power. In a similar vein, it’s clear that not every essay in the collection is about the mereology of powers—notably Kroll approaches complex powers in terms of the determinable/determinate distinction, Hoffmann-Kolss is concerned with the logical complexity of variables for interventionism, Guo and Tugby sketch an account of collective instantiation, and Morganti explicitly says he’s not concerned with a mereological notion of composition and instead focuses on the factorizability of probabilities for entangled quantum systems. In this respect, the book’s subtitle, “Essays on the Mereology of Powers” is a bit of a misnomer; perhaps “Essays on the Metaphysical Complexity of Powers” would have been more appropriate. After all, understanding the ontological complexity of powers needn’t only be cashed out mereologically, and a research question like this may benefit from looking at the theoretical landscape in several divergent ways.

Overall, there’s much of interest to be gleaned from this book. It covers a wide range of approaches to the question of the metaphysical complexity of powers, both mereological and non-mereological alike. Despite some deviation from the editors’ stated goal of offering a mereological approach to the complexity of powers, I think the book can be framed as having a different and broader aim: to examine the ontological complexity of powers by offering a more metaphysically robust story, one that goes beyond merely saying that powers are individuated by their stimuli or manifestations. With this aim in mind, I think the book shows that there’s quite a bit of potentially fruitful philosophical ground here left to explore.

Koslicki, K. (2008). The Structure of Objects . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Marmodoro, A. (2017). “Power Mereology: Structural Powers Versus Substantial Powers” in

Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Downward Causation , Eds. M. Paolini Paoletti, F. Orilia, 110–129. New York: Routledge.

Molnar, G. (2003). Powers: A Study in Metaphysics . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Quine, W.V. (1956). “Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes”. Journal of Philosophy , 53 (5), 177–187.

Shoemaker, S. (1980). “Causality and Properties” in Time and Cause: Essays Presented to

Richard Taylor , Ed. P. Van Inwagen, Reidel: 109–136.

[1] I will follow the convention set by the editors and several contributors by using “power” and “disposition” interchangeably.

Power and authority

My power and authority notes for modern history 2021

Mia MacCormick

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• Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Power and Authority

Many of us think that these two terms are one and the same thing, but there exists a fine line of difference between power and authority. While the former is exercised in a personal capacity, the latter is used in a professional capacity. So, on this topic, we are going to throw light on the basic differences between the two, have a look.

Content: Power Vs Authority

Comparison chart.

Definition of Power

By the term power, we mean the personal capacity of an individual to influence others to do or not to do an act. It is independent and informal in nature derived from charisma and status. It is an acquired ability that comes from knowledge and expertise. It is the right to control other’s actions, decisions and performances.

Power is not hierarchical, i.e. it can flow in any direction like it can flow from superior to subordinate (downward) or junior to senior (upward), or between the persons working at the same level, but different departments of the same organization (horizontal), or between the persons working at different levels and departments of the same organization (diagonal). In this way, it is not confined to any boundaries. Moreover, the element of politics is usually attached to it.

Definition of Authority

Authority is legal and formal right to a person, who can take decisions, give orders and commands to others to perform a particular task. It is conferred to high officials, to accomplish organisation’s objectives. It is hierarchical in nature, it flows downward, i.e. delegated from superior to the subordinate.

In general, authority is exercised to get things done through others. It is attached to the position, i.e. any person who gets the position enjoys the authority attached to it, the higher the position, the higher would be his authority. As the authority lies in the designation, in the absence of authority, the position offered to the person would be of no use. Moreover, it is restricted to the organisation only.

Key Differences Between Power and Authority

The difference between power and authority can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:

• Power is defined as the ability or potential of an individual to influence others and control their actions. Authority is the legal and formal right to give orders and commands, and take decisions.
• Power is a personal trait, i.e. an acquired ability, whereas authority is a formal right, that vest in the hands of high officials or management personnel.
• The major source of power is knowledge and expertise. On the other hand, position and office determine the authority of a person.
• Power flows in any direction, i.e. it can be upward, downward, crosswise or diagonal, lateral. As opposed to authority, that flows only in one direction, i.e. downward (from superior to subordinate).
• The power lies in person, in essence, a person acquires it, but authority lies in the designation, i.e. whoever get the designation, get the authority attached to it.
• Authority is legitimate whereas the power is not.

After reviewing the above points, it is quite clear that power and authority are two different things, where power has nothing to do with level or management or position. On the other hand, authority completely depends on these two, i.e. the position level determines the level of authority a person has. In addition to this, the authority relationships, i.e. the relationship between superior and subordinate are depicted on the organisational chart. Conversely, the power relationship is not shown in the organisation chart.

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August 20, 2017 at 1:54 pm

Nice,easy to know the unknown things

magdalene says

January 19, 2021 at 8:10 pm

January 22, 2021 at 2:30 pm

You’ve done it well

Nimisha mishra says

October 25, 2017 at 7:20 pm

Very easy to understand and language was simple too! Thank you for this article

November 19, 2017 at 4:46 pm

Simple and easy way of defining the two into various point. Helped me alot for my presentation. Thank you.

November 29, 2017 at 6:32 pm

really understandable concept in a very comfortable way..

Thank you So much…

Ofori samuel says

December 13, 2017 at 8:48 pm

In short, “let authorities keep you, power will come and set you free “. Perfect explanation. Thanks

December 26, 2017 at 5:41 pm

Thank you for an excellent piece.

eze samuel chinonso says

January 31, 2018 at 8:48 pm

I love your hard work but can you help to create my own blog

Lindiwe says

April 25, 2018 at 5:14 pm

I would like to know or understand the relationship between Power, Authority and Leadership

Sirius Q says

December 1, 2019 at 7:02 pm

Try and look at Responsibility vs Accountability in relation to Power vs Authority. That may help regarding understanding leadership.

Muksed Ali says

May 3, 2018 at 2:45 pm

Wow! Excellent

Surbhi S says

May 11, 2018 at 3:15 pm

To all the readers, Thanks a lot for continuously appreciating Key Differences and supporting us. It motivates us to do better. Keep reading 🙂

May 14, 2018 at 11:34 pm

Wonderful article…easy to understand….fully satisfied….thank you…😄

Millicent E Parker says

February 6, 2019 at 10:39 am

When the Jewish Rabbis questioned Jesus’ dealings with demons, sicknesses & diseases that plagued people, showed that they well understood the difference between Power & Authority. The Comparison Chart has clearly defined sound dissect-ing of these words. I love it. Thanks.

Isa Musa Uba says

May 13, 2019 at 3:07 am

Wow so understandtable.

May 13, 2019 at 6:56 pm

Succinctly put. its not better anywhere! you’ve got the power of key differences.

Mercy Kaumba says

June 19, 2019 at 5:54 pm

Thanks so much for the clear and well articulated work, my mind is now open.

Muhammad Adamu says

July 9, 2019 at 2:53 pm

Thank you for this article.

August 24, 2019 at 9:34 pm

You are amazing thanks alot

Travis says

October 2, 2019 at 1:31 am

i like this website

October 11, 2020 at 2:59 am

Very useful information format to use when showing that the Roman fasces

McSmoke says

October 23, 2020 at 6:10 pm

Thank you very much for making this easier to understand. This is very useful in determining the boundaries between power and authority, indeed. Gotcha!

Gilead maurice says

December 9, 2020 at 2:06 am

This has clearly outlined what have been looking for..awesome content

Tefera says

January 21, 2021 at 1:06 pm

You put the difference in a nutshell and understandable way. So wonderful! Thanks a lot

Godwin says

October 4, 2021 at 5:39 pm

Excellent answer and good information.

reyhan says

December 3, 2021 at 11:44 am

thanks a lot of information

ibrahim isah says

March 7, 2022 at 5:09 pm

extremely easy to understand the difference between power and authority excellence

NSABIMANA LIVINGSTONE says

March 10, 2022 at 8:43 am

It has been crystal clear differentiating power and authority. Before I could notably differentiate the two but now I will give a good presentation.

Aungwa Desmond msughter says

May 19, 2022 at 12:54 am

Very good and self explanative

Adv Sajjid Ali says

August 5, 2022 at 11:58 pm

Thank you so much! good information and the difference between power and authority. Once again thank you so much. May God bless you.

Repent says

October 21, 2022 at 6:42 pm

The point is very understandable short and brief. Authority and power are two different things or (terms)

Sofiat says

June 5, 2023 at 4:44 pm

Wow very understandable short and brief.

Nso Clement Eyong says

August 18, 2023 at 9:36 pm

Powerful explanation and absolute clarity with easeness of understanding.

A.J Ayomide says

November 13, 2023 at 9:25 pm

You make it, more explicit to understand So well understandable

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UNIT 6: Power and authority – I am the boss! Am I?

Unit 6: key concept – “power and authority” (for primary level), background information for teachers: legitimate power – the principle of delegation at primary level.

Students aged 10 and over are able to think in abstract terms. They can recognise and develop structures in their environment and are able to differentiate between their own interests and the interests of others. As they get older, they will be able to do this more and more.

From the age of 10 onwards, students begin to understand the relationship between space and time, as well as to develop the ability to express and perceive feelings and recognise norms. By this age, students have already got to know the surroundings in which they live very well and they begin to show a great interest in the unknown. Their perception of social systems (associations, clubs, youth groups, etc.) becomes more detailed and they thus become more motivated and involved in defending other people and lobbying for their interests.

The community life of the class and the school becomes more important. How is community life organised? What rules are important? Who develops these rules and who decides on them? Who can change these rules?

In the search for answers to these questions, it is not only necessary to get to know the political system of the community or, in a wider sense, the state, but also to be able to inf uence structures and processes within this community – in other words, to “live” democracy.

Particularly at the secondary I level, the conditions for initiating participatory, out-of-school projects are very positive for a child’s developmental psychology. Students can recognise the cycle of political processes and understand the process of decision making. Moreover, most of the decisions relevant for students at this age are made at community level (such as traffic, leisure facilities, etc.). Students can gather important insights if they are encouraged to take on social responsibility and if they feel responsible for a part of their school life. By tackling topics like delegation, they can amass concrete experience of participation and responsibility during their daily life. The more real-world experiences that students of this age can have, and the more situations they experience which give them the possibility of inf uencing political processes, the higher the probability that they will participate in decision-making processes later on and will develop a sense of responsibility for society.

Power and authority – the principle of delegation – is one step in raising this awareness. The next series of lessons visualises political processes in school in a way that is analogous to those that go on outside of school. In this respect, the election of a head of class should not be an isolated activity but one that should be used as a model. In contrast to school activities such as mock elections, where students enact or re-enact political elections, the election of a head of class should have an impact on everyday life in school.

The aim of education for democratic citizenship is to support the development of competences in three areas. This unit has the following competence profile:

Unit 6: Power and authority

I am the boss am i, legitimate power – the principle of delegation at primary level.

Read More...

• Educating for democracy (I)  
• Introduction  
• Part 1 - Understanding democracy and human rights  
• Unit 1 – What the concepts mean  
• 1. Politics, democracy & democratic governance of schools  
• 1.1 Politics  
• 1.2 Democracy  
• 1.3 Democratic governance of schools  
• 9 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-1/unit-1/chapter-2/" class="text-dark">2. Childrens Rights & the Right to Education 9  
• 11 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-1/unit-2/" class="text-dark">Unit 2 – The key to a dynamic concept of citizenship 11  
• 1. Challenges to the traditional model of citizenship  
• 1.1 A new kind of citizenship requires a new kind of education  
• 2. Political culture  
• 2.1 Democracy comes to life through its citizens  
• 2.2 The cultural dimension of human rights  
• 2.3 Teaching through democracy and human rights – democratic culture in school  
• Unit 3 - Educating for democracy and human rights  
• 1. The three dimensions of EDC/HRE  
• 1.1 The cognitive dimension of EDC/HRE: learning “about” democracy and human rights  
• 1.2 The participative dimension of EDC/HRE: learning “for” democracy and human rights  
• 1.3 The cultural dimension of EDC/HRE: learning “through” democracy and human rights  
• 13 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-1/unit-3/chapter-2/" class="text-dark">2. HRE and its connection with EDC 13  
• 3. Competences in EDC/HRE  
• 3.1 “I would like my students to be able to …”  
• 3.2 Competences – a general definition  
• 3.3 How can teachers find out what competences students have? Competence and performance  
• 3.4 A model of student competences in EDC/HRE  
• 3.5 Teacher competences in EDC/HRE  
• 16 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-1/unit-3/chapter-4/" class="text-dark">4. “We create the world in our minds”: constructivist learning in EDC/HRE 16  
• 4.1 Learners “construct” meaning – they discover and create something new  
• 4.2 Learners “reconstruct” what they have learnt – they apply it and put it to the test  
• 4.3 Learners “deconstruct”, or criticise, their own results or each other’s  
• 5. Professional ethics of EDC/HRE teachers: three principles  
• 5.1 Principle of non-indoctrination  
• 5.2 Principle of controversial discussion  
• 5.3 Empowering students to promote their interests  
• 6. Key concepts in EDC/HRE  
• 6.1 Why do we need key concepts in EDC/HRE?  
• 6.2 The essence of the key concepts  
• 7. The method carries the message: task-based learning in EDC/HRE  
• 7.1 The shortcomings of traditional citizenship education  
• 7.2 Teaching though and for democracy and human rights requires active learning  
• 7.3 Tasks – the teacher’s tool to support active learning  
• 7.4 Task-based learning is problem-based learning  
• 7.5 The teacher’s roles in task-based learning sequences  
• 7.6 Active learning requires a follow-up  
• 23 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-1/unit-3/chapter-8/" class="text-dark">8. A human rights-based approach to schooling 23  
• 26 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-1/unit-4/" class="text-dark">Unit 4 - Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education – A short history of the Council of Europe approach 26  
• 1. Background  
• 2. Outcomes of the EDC/HRE project  
• 3. Practical instruments  
• 3.1 The EDC/HRE pack  
• 3.2 Six volumes on EDC/HRE in school projects, teaching sequences, concepts, methods and models  
• Part 2 - Teaching democracy and human rights  
• Unit 1 - Conditions of teaching and learning  
• 1. Introduction  
• 2. Task and key questions for conditions of teaching and learning  
• 2 - Work file 1: How to take students’ skills and knowledge into account  
• 2 - Work file 2: How to take my teaching skills and knowledge into account  
• 2 - Work file 3: Considering general teaching and learning conditions  
• 2 - Work file 4: What are my basic attitudes towards students?  
• 2 - Work file 5: Rethinking discipline and order from a democratic point of view  
• 2 - Work file 6: Rethinking the teacher’s role from a democratic point of view  
• 2 - Work file 7: How to develop a democratic atmosphere in the classroom  
• 2 - Work file 8: How to develop school as a democratic community  
• Unit 2 - Setting objectives and selecting materials  
• 2. Task and key questions for setting objectives and selecting materials  
• 2.1 Task  
• 2.2 Key questions  
• 2 - Work file 1: Students’ competences for EDC/HRE  
• 2 - Work file 2: Two categories of materials in EDC/HRE  
• 2 - Work file 3: Selecting and using materials in EDC/HRE  
• Unit 3 - Understanding politics  
• 1. Introduction: what must students learn?  
• 2. Task and key questions to understand politics  
• 2.1 Task for teachers in EDC/HRE  
• 2 - Work file 1: How can I address politics in my EDC/HRE classes?  
• 2 - Work file 2: How can I support my students in judging political issues?  
• Unit 4 - Guiding processes of learning and choosing forms of teaching  
• 2. Task and key questions for guiding processes of learning and choosing forms of teaching  
• 2 - Work file 1: Three stages in a learning process  
• 2 - Work file 2: Why chalk and talk is not enough, or “taught ≠ learned” and “learned ≠ applied in real life”  
• 2 - Work file 3: Selecting adequate forms of teaching and learning  
• 2 - Work file 4: Five basic forms of teaching and learning  
• Unit 5 - Assessment of students, teachers and schools  
• 2. Task and key questions for assessment of students, teachers and schools  
• 2 - Work file 1: Different dimensions of assessment  
• 2 - Work file 2: Perspectives of assessment  
• 2 - Work file 3: Perspectives and forms of assessment  
• 2 - Work file 4: Standards of reference  
• 2 - Work file 5: Assessment of students – the influence of assessment on self-concepts  
• 2 - Work file 6: Checklist “How do I assess my students?”  
• 2 - Work file 7: Assessment of teachers  
• 2 - Work file 8: Self-assessment of teachers  
• 37 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-2/unit-5/chapter-2/lesson-9/" class="text-dark">2 - Work file 9: Working with journals, logbooks, portfolios 37  
• 2 - Work file 10: Co-operative teaching and peer feedback  
• 2 - Work file 11: Assessment of EDC/HRE in schools  
• 2 - Work file 12: Quality indicators of EDC/HRE in a school  
• 2 - Work file 13: General principles for evaluating EDC/HRE  
• 2 - Work file 14: Guidelines for self-evaluation of schools  
• 2 - Work file 15: Involving the different stakeholders in evaluating EDC/HRE in a school  
• 46 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-2/unit-5/chapter-2/lesson-16/" class="text-dark">2 - Work file 16: Governance and management in a school 46  
• 2 - Work file 17: Focus on democratic school governance  
• 2 - Work file 18: How to analyse and interpret EDC/HRE evaluation results  
• Part 3 - Tools for teaching and learning democracy and human rights  
• Unit 1 - Toolbox for teachers  
• Tool 1: Task-based learning  
• Tool 2: Co-operative learning  
• Tool 3: Chairing plenary sessions (discussion and critical thinking) in EDC/HRE classes  
• Tool 4: Interviewing an expert – how to collect information  
• 47 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-1/part-3/unit-1/tool-5/" class="text-dark">Tool 5. Defining competence-based teaching objectives 47  
• Unit 2 - Toolbox for students  
• Tool 1: Worksheet for students to plan their learning schedules  
• Tool 2: Worksheet for students to reflect on their learning  
• Tool 3: Worksheet for students to reflect on their achievement  
• Tool 4: Researching in libraries  
• Tool 5: Researching on the Internet  
• Tool 6: Carrying out interviews and surveys  
• Tool 7: Interpreting images  
• Tool 8: Mind maps  
• Tool 9: Creating posters  
• Tool 10: Holding exhibitions  
• Tool 11: Planning and giving presentations  
• Tool 12: Preparing overhead transparencies or a PowerPoint presentation  
• Tool 13: Writing newspaper articles  
• Tool 14: Putting on performances  
• Tool 15: Holding debates  
• Growing up in democracy (II)  
• The conceptual framework of this manual  
• Unit 1: Identity – Me in my community  
• Lesson 1: This is what I like  
• Lesson 2: My personal symbols (coat of arms part I)  
• Lesson 3 - This is our coat of arms (coat of arms part II)  
• Lesson 4 - Individuals and groups  
• UNIT 2: Diversity and pluralism – At home in Europe  
• Lesson 1: What is Europe?  
• Lesson 2: I am at home in Europe (building a physical map I)  
• Lesson 3: I am at home in Europe (building a physical map II)  
• Lesson 4: Europeans are different and equal  
• UNIT 3: Equality – Minorities and majorities  
• Lesson 1: All different, all equal  
• Lesson 2: Is it fair? (research)  
• Lesson 3: Is it fair? (follow-up)  
• Lesson 4: A matrix of power  
• UNIT 4: Conflict – Rules help to solve conflicts  
• Lesson 1: Everything’s okay! Really?  
• Lesson 2: This is how we do it  
• Lesson 3: A list of ideas  
• Lesson 4: Our contract of rules  
• UNIT 5: Rules and law – The basis of living together  
• Lesson 1: Why do we need rules and laws?  
• Lesson 2: What happens if …?  
• Lesson 3: Our new school rules  
• Lesson 4: A campaign for our new school rules  
• UNIT 6: Power and authority – I am the boss! Am I?  
• Lesson 1: Superhero?  
• Lesson 2: Good guys, bad guys?  
• Lesson 3: One person does everything, the rest do nothing?  
• Lesson 4: Sharing the power  
• UNIT 7: Responsibility – I go eco … my school takes part!  
• Lesson 1: Responsibility  
• Lesson 2: School is life: living ecology?  
• Lesson 3: How can I start to be responsible?  
• Lesson 4: How did we do – what’s the plan?  
• UNIT 8: Rights and freedom – My rights – your rights  
• Lesson 1: Wants and needs: what is important to me?  
• Lesson 2: Human rights: what do they say?  
• Lesson 3: Survey: what people around us think and know  
• Lesson 4: Human rights alive!  
• UNIT 9: Media - Media in use: I would if I could  
• Lesson 1: We prepare an exhibition  
• Lesson 2: The power of knowledge and skills!  
• Lesson 3: Presentation time!  
• Lesson 4: We plan a media product  
• Unit 9 - Teachers’ handout 1: media in democracies  
• Unit 9 - Teachers’ handout 2: working with television  
• Manual for students  
• I. Handouts for students - Introduction  
• Student handout for Unit 1, lesson 1: “I like and don’t like” table  
• Student handout for Unit 1, lessons 2 and 3: Coat of arms template  
• Student handout for Unit 1, lesson 4: 3-step discussion  
• Student handout for Unit 2, lesson 1: Map of Europe (enlarge it to A3)  
• Student handout for Unit 2, lesson 1: The countries and capitals of Europe  
• Student handout for Unit 2, lesson 1: The flags of Europe  
• Student handout for Unit 2, lesson 1: Rivers in Europe  
• Student handout for Unit 2, lesson 1: Mountains and landforms in Europe  
• Student handout for Unit 2, lessons 2 and 3: Country portrait  
• Student handout for Unit 3, lesson 2: Table for notes  
• Student handout for Unit 3, lesson 3: Statistics sheet  
• Student handout for Unit 3, lesson 4: Word and power cards  
• Student handout for Unit 4, lesson 1: Our problem – my problem  
• Student handout for Unit 4, lesson 3: Voting cards  
• Student handout for Unit 5, lesson 1: Rights, responsibilities and rules in our school  
• Student handout for Unit 5, lesson 3: Voting cards  
• Student handout for Unit 5, lesson 4: Criteria for good rules  
• Student handout for Unit 6, lesson 1: Superhero?  
• Student handout for Unit 6, lesson 2: Schema of political representation  
• Student handout for Unit 6, lesson 3: Election information  
• Student handout for Unit 7, lesson 1: Responsibility for what?  
• Student handout for Unit 7, lesson 4: Who has what kind of responsibility?  
• Student handout for Unit 8, lesson 1: Task to decide between “WANTS” and “NEEDS”  
• Student handout for Unit 8, lesson 2: Human rights: a list for comparing rights and needs  
• Student handout for Unit 8, lesson 3: Survey on human rights  
• Student handout for Unit 9, lesson 1: Presentation cards giving a short description of the media devices  
• II. Toolbox for students - Introduction  
• 1. Researching in libraries  
• 2. Researching on the Internet  
• 3. Carrying out interviews and surveys  
• 4. Interpreting images  
• 5. Mind maps  
• 6. Creating posters  
• 7. Holding exhibitions  
• 8. Planning and giving presentations  
• 9. Preparing overhead transparencies or a PowerPoint presentation  
• 10. Writing newspaper articles  
• 11. Putting on performances  
• 12. Holding debates  
• Living in democracy (III)  
• The conceptual framework of the manual: key concepts  
• Part 1: Individual and community  
• UNIT 1: Stereotypes and prejudices  
• Lesson 1: How others see a person  
• Lesson 2: How differently a person can be described...  
• Lesson 3: Stereotypes and prejudices  
• Lesson 4: Identity - Stereotypes about me!  
• Student handout 1.1: (Group 1) Role play  
• Student handout 1.1: (Group 2) Role play  
• Student handout 1.1: (Group 3) Role play  
• Background material for teachers: Stereotypes and prejudices  
• Student handout 1.2: Self-perception – perception by others  
• UNIT 2: Equality - Are you more equal than me?  
• Lesson 1: Differences and similarities  
• Lesson 2: Vesna’s story  
• Lesson 3: Equality between men and women  
• Lesson 4: Social justice  
• Student handout 2.1: Vesna's story  
• Student handout 2.2: Men and women: the story  
• Student handout 2.3: The shipwreck  
• UNIT 3: Diversity and pluralism - How can people live together peacefully?  
• Lesson 1: How can people live together?  
• Lesson 2: Why do people disagree?  
• Lesson 3: In what ways are people different?  
• Lesson 4: Why are human rights important?  
• Student handout 3.1: The school on the edge of the forest  
• Student handout 3.2: Hope is for everyone  
• Student handout 3.3: Help for Hope College  
• Student handout 3.4 - The islanders and the settlers (role cards)  
• Student handout 3.5: Situation cards: the islanders  
• 15 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-3/part-1/unit-3/student-handout-10/" class="text-dark">Student handout 3.6: Key elements of human rights 15  
• UNIT 4: Conflict  
• Lesson 1: Conflict resolution  
• Lesson 2: Applying the six-step approach  
• Lesson 3: Conflicting human rights  
• Lesson 4: Using violence  
• Teacher’s resource sheet: International humanitarian law  
• Student handout 4.1: A six-step approach to conflict resolution  
• Student handout 4.2: Conflict scenarios  
• Student handout 4.3: Five cases of conflicting human rights  
• Student handout 4.4: Is violence acceptable in some cases?  
• Part 2: Taking responsibility  
• UNIT 5: Rights, liberties and responsibilities  
• Lesson 1: Wishes, basic needs, human dignity and human rights  
• Lesson 2: Detecting human rights violations  
• Lesson 3: Rights and responsibilities  
• Lesson 4: Human rights quiz  
• Student handout 5.1: Wishes, needs and rights  
• Student handout 5.2: List of human rights  
• Student handout 5.3: Cases of human rights violations  
• Student handout 5.4: Rights and responsibilities  
• Student handout 5.5: Human rights quiz (training cards)  
• Teacher’s resource sheet  
• UNIT 6: Responsibility  
• Lesson 1: Responsibilities at home  
• Lesson 2: Why should people obey the law?  
• Lesson 3: Whose problem is it?  
• Lesson 4: Why do people become active citizens?  
• Student handout 6.1: Milan makes a choice  
• Student handout 6.2: Schmitt’s dilemma  
• Student handout 6.3: Things are getting out of control!  
• Student handout 6.4: Card sort: the life of Jelena Santic  
• Part 3: Participation  
• UNIT 7: A class newspaper  
• Lesson 1: The newspapers around us  
• Lesson 2: Our newspaper is the best... don't you agree?  
• Lesson 3: We produce our wall newspaper  
• Lesson 4: Our first issue!  
• Background material for teachers  
• Student handout 7.1: How to write an article  
• Part 4: Power and authority  
• UNIT 8: Rules and Law  
• Lesson 1: Good law – bad law  
• Lesson 2: At what age?  
• Lesson 3: You make the law  
• Lesson 4: Rules of evidence  
• Student handout 8.1: A questionnaire: at what age?  
• Student handout 8.2: Discussion cards  
• 8.1 Background information for teachers: Integration, not criminalisation  
• 8.2 Background information for teachers: Convention on the Rights of the Child  
• UNIT 9: Government and politics  
• Lesson 1: Who is in charge?  
• Lesson 2: If you were the president  
• Lesson 3: Me and my role  
• Lesson 4: Student parliament  
• Student handout 9.1: The Kingdom of Sikkal  
• Student handout 9.2: Discussion cards  
• Student Handout 9.3: Questionnaire  
• Taking part in democracy (IV)  
• Interactive constructivist learning in EDC/HRE  
• Part 1: Taking part in the community  
• UNIT 1: IDENTITY  
• Lesson 1: Views on choices and identity  
• Lesson 2: Looking back: what choices made me the person I am?  
• Lesson 3: Looking forward: three choices that shape our future lives  
• Lesson 4: Which job suits me?  
• Materials for teachers 1.1: Quotes on choices and identity  
• Materials for teachers 1.2: Job cards  
• Unit 1.3: Background information for teachers  
• UNIT 2: RESPONSIBILITY  
• Lesson 1: Risk losing a friend – or break a rule?  
• Lessons 2 and 3: What would you do?  
• Lesson 4: What values must we share?  
• Materials for teachers 2.1: How to use the tool for dilemma analysis  
• Materials for teachers 2.2: Flipchart layout for the comparison of dilemma solutions (lesson 4)  
• Materials for teachers 2.3: Liberty and responsibility - three lecture modules  
• UNIT 3: DIVERSITY AND PLURALISM  
• Lesson 1: If I were president …  
• Lesson 2: What goals do we want to promote?  
• Lesson 3: What is the common good?  
• Lesson 4: Taking part in pluralist democracy  
• Materials for teachers 3A: Four basic political standpoints  
• Materials for teachers 3B: Lecture: what is the common good?  
• Materials for teachers 3C: Suggestions for extensions and follow-ups  
• Part 2 - Taking part in politics: settling conflict, solving problems  
• UNIT 4: CONFLICT  
• Lesson 1: The fishing game (1)  
• Lesson 2: The fishing game (2)  
• Lesson 3: How do we catch "as many fish as possible"?  
• Lesson 4: How can we achieve sustainability?  
• Materials for teachers 4.1: Fishing game: record sheet for players  
• Materials for teachers (game managers) 4.2: Reproduction chart: recovery of the fish population (in tons of fish)  
• Materials for teachers 4.3: Fishing game: record chart  
• Materials for teachers 4.4: Fishing game: diagram of fish Stocks and total catches  
• Materials for teachers 4.5: Homework Instructions (mini-handout for students)  
• Unit 4.5: Background information for teachers: Reading list on the fishing game  
• Unit 5: RULES AND LAW  
• Lessons 1 and 2: Why does a community need rules?  
• Lesson 3: What rules serve us best?  
• Lesson 4: The conference  
• Unit 6: Government and politics  
• Lesson 1: “Our most urgent problem is …”  
• Lesson 2: Politics - how a democratic community solves its problems  
• Lesson 3: Applying the policy cycle model  
• Lesson 4: How can we take part?  
• Lesson 5: Feedback session (optional)  
• Materials for teachers 6.1: Illustration of the policy cycle model - how can we reduce the number of car accidents?  
• Materials for teachers 6.2: Key statements on the policy cycle model  
• UNIT 7: EQUALITY  
• Lesson 1: The majority always rules?  
• Lesson 2: How can we balance majority and minority interests?  
• Lesson 3: Draft statutes  
• Lesson 4: What is a good way to govern a democratic community?  
• Part 3 - Taking part in politics: participation through communication  
• Unit 8: LIBERTY  
• Lesson 1: What issues are interesting for us?  
• Lesson 2: Preparing for the debate  
• Lesson 3: We debate – we decide – we report  
• Lesson 4: One debate – different perspectives  
• Materials for teachers 8.1: Why freedom depends on framing by rules and laws  
• UNIT 9: The media  
• Lesson 1: We are the gatekeepers!  
• Lessons 2 and 3: We are the gatekeepers!  
• Lesson 4: Do we control the media – or do the media control us?  
• Materials for teachers 9A: Skills and strategies for media education  
• Student handout 1.1: What choices have made me the person I am today - and who made them?  
• Student handout 1.2: Three options that shape our futures  
• Student handout 1.3: My criteria for choosing a job  
• Student handout 1.4: Questionnaire: job shadowing  
• Student handout 2.1: The dilemma concept  
• Student handout 2.2: A tool to analyse and solve dilemmas  
• Student handout 2.3: How would you decide? Dilemma case stories  
• Student handout 2.4: Record sheet on dilemma discussions (Based on student handout 2.3)  
• Student handout 2.5: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948)  
• Student handout 2.6: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (The European Convention on Human Rights), as amended by Protocol No. 11 with Protocol Nos. 1, 4, 6 (excerpts)  
• Student handout 3.1: Schedule for unit 3 “Diversity and pluralism”  
• Student handout 3.2: Taking part in democracy – basic rules and principles  
• Student handout 3.3: Establishing a political party  
• Student handout 3.4: How does a democratic political system handle diversity and pluralism?  
• Student handout 3.5: The concept of the common good: the hallmark of democracy and dictatorship  
• Student handout 3.6: Map of social cleavages and political parties  
• Student handout 4.1: Case story: the conflict in the fishing community  
• Student handout 4.2: A model of sustainability goals  
• Student handout 4.3: Applying the sustainability model to the fishing game: how do we “catch as many fish as possible”?  
• Student handout 4.4: What is the optimum balance between fish reproduction and harvest?  
• Student handout 5.1: Preparations for the conference on a framework of rules  
• Student handout 5.2: Basic questions to consider in institutional design  
• Student handout 5.3: Comparing frameworks of rules  
• Student handout 5.4: Procedural rules for the conference – draft version  
• Student handout 5.5: Summary: what can we learn through these games?  
• Student handout 5.6: Feedback on units 4 and 5  
• Student handout 6.1: The policy cycle model: politics as a process of solving problems in a community  
• Student handout 6.2: The policy cycle – a tool to observe and understand political decision-making processes  
• Student handout 6.3: Feedback on the unit “Government and politics”  
• Student handout 7.1: Is majority rule unfair to the minority? A case story  
• Student handout 7.2: How do democracies care for the protection of minorities?  
• Student handout 7.3: Task: drafting a statute for the sports club  
• Student handout 7.4: Record of group presentations: draft statutes for a micro-community  
• Student handout 8.1: Suggestions for a debating issue  
• Student handout 8.2: Rules for debating  
• Student handout 8.3: Planning sheet for the debating teams  
• Student handout 8.4: Planning sheet for the chairpersons  
• Student handout 8.5: Record sheet for the audience  
• Student handout 8.6: Worksheet for news story writers  
• Student handout 9.1: Creating a wall newspaper - making choices  
• Student handout 9.2: Tips for producing a wall newspaper  
• Student handout 9.3: Tips for writing a good news story  
• Exploring Children’s Rights (V)  
• Introduction: What the nine units have to offer (Class 1– 9)  
• Part 1: Lesson plans  
• Unit 1 (Primary school, Class 1) - I have a name – we have a school  
• Unit 2 (Primary school, Class 2) - Names are more than just letters!  
• Unit 3 (Primary school, class 3) - We are wizards!  
• Unit 4 (Primary school, Class 4) - Our rights - our treasure  
• Unit 5 (Primary school, Class 5) - We make rules for our classroom  
• Unit 6 (Primary school, Class 6) - Children's rights: a work of art!  
• Unit 7 (Primary school, Class 7) - Is what I want also what I need?  
• Unit 8 (Primary school, Class 8) - Children's rights - thoroughly researched  
• Unit 9 (Primary school, Class 9) - Why must we obey rules?  
• Part 2: Background information  
• 1. Frequently asked questions about the children's rights convention  
• 2. Children's rights - part of the human rights process  
• 3. How children's rights were created  
• 4. Children's rights: experiencing, getting to know and implementing them  
• 5. Pedagogical approach: learning by example  
• 6. Task-based learning: accompanying learning  
• 7. Teaching children's rights: key questions to guide the choice of teaching methods  
• 8. "But that means that I have the right to have a break, doesn't it?" - Children's rights in the classroom  
• Part 3: Documents and Teaching Materials  
• 1. Pupil's version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child  
• 2. Grouping children's rights into four dimensions  
• 3. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1989)  
• 4. The illustrated Children's Rights (Children's Rights cards)  
• Teaching Democracy (VI)  
• Chapter 1 - Building up classroom atmosphere  
• Exercise 1.1. - Matching cards  
• Exercise 1.2. - Rights, responsibilities and rules in the classroom  
• Exercise 1.3. - Identity coat of arms  
• Exercise 1.4. - A bouquet of flowers  
• Exercise 1.5. - Chinese sticks  
• Chapter 2 - Clarifying values  
• Exercise 2.1. - The raft game  
• Exercise 2.2. - Value Systems  
• Exercise 2.3. - Philosophy of life  
• Chapter 3 - Getting to know human rights  
• Exercise 3.1. - The human rights poster  
• Exercise 3.2. - The strings  
• Exercise 3.3. - The human rights tree  
• Exercise 3.4. - The balloon ride  
• Exercise 3.5. - Wants and needs  
• Exercise 3.6. - The treasure box  
• Chapter 4 - Perceiving others  
• Exercise 4.1. - All different, all equal  
• Exercise 4.2. - Difference  
• Exercise 4.3. - True and false  
• Exercise 4.4. - First impressions  
• Exercise 4.5. - We all have prejudices  
• Exercise 4.6. - We are all equal, but some are more equal than others  
• Exercise 4.7. - The tourists  
• Exercise 4.8. - Globingo: "A human being is part of the whole world".  
• Chapter 5 - Making justice work  
• Exercise 5.1. - It's not fair  
• Exercise 5.2. - The exception  
• Exercise 5.3. - The jigsaw puzzle  
• Exercise 5.4. - The role of law  
• Exercise 5.5. - Perspectives on justice  
• Chapter 6 - Understanding political philosophy  
• Exercise 6.1. - Basic concepts of political thought  
• 5 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-6/chapter-6/exercise-2/" class="text-dark">Exercise 6.2. - Attitudes to power 5  
• Exercise 6.3. - If I were a magician  
• Chapter 7 - Taking part in politics  
• Exercise 7.1. - The wall of silence  
• Exercise 7.2. - My feelings about dictatorship  
• Exercise 7.3. - Questionnaire on attitudes to change  
• 6 " href="https://www.living-democracy.com/textbooks/volume-6/chapter-7/exercise-4/" class="text-dark">Exercise 7.4. - The planning project 6  
• Exercise 7.5. - We and the world  
• Exercise 7.6. - Should we take part in politics?  
• Exercise 7.7. - How does government affect your life?  
• Exercise 7.8. - Ways of participating in democracy  
• Exercise 7.9. - The policy cycle  
• Chapter 8 - Dealing with conflict  
• Exercise 8.1. - Win-win solutions  
• Exercise 8.2. - A structured approach to conflict resolution  
• Exercise 8.3. - Family and peer conflict  
• Exercise 8.4. - Brainstorming session on conflict and peace  
• Exercise 8.5. - The statues  
• Exercise 8.6. - Punishment versus positive conflict resolution  
• Exercise 8.7. - Minorities  
• Exercise 8.8. - Images of war and peace  
• Illustrations  

Essay on Power And Authority

Students are often asked to write an essay on Power And Authority in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Power And Authority

Understanding power and authority.

Power and authority are big ideas that affect our lives every day. Power means having the ability to do something or control others. Authority is the right to give orders and make decisions. They are like two sides of a coin. When someone has power, they can influence others, while authority is when they are officially allowed to do so.

Types of Power

Authority in everyday life.

Authority is seen in places like schools, where teachers have the authority to lead classes. In families, parents have authority over their children. Governments have authority over citizens, creating laws that people must follow to keep order in society.

Using Power and Authority

Power and authority should be used fairly. Leaders who have these should think about what is best for everyone, not just themselves. When used right, they can help make the world a better place. But if used wrongly, they can cause harm and unfairness.

250 Words Essay on Power And Authority

Power can come in different forms. One kind is when someone can make others do things because they are strong or can offer rewards. For example, a big brother might have the power to decide what game to play because he’s older and stronger. Another kind is when people listen to someone because they respect their knowledge or skills, like a doctor giving health advice.

Authority Comes with Responsibility

When someone has authority, it means they are in charge of others and must look after them. It’s not just about telling people what to do; it’s also about making sure things go right. For instance, a bus driver has the authority to tell passengers to sit down, so everyone stays safe.

Using Power and Authority Well

It’s important for people with power and authority to use it in a good way. They should make fair rules and treat everyone equally. If they don’t, people might not listen to them anymore. Just like in a game, if the person in charge is unfair, players might stop playing.

To sum up, power and authority are about who gets to make the rules and why. They are important for keeping order, but they must be used with care and fairness.

500 Words Essay on Power And Authority

When we talk about power and authority, we’re discussing who is in charge and who makes the rules. Power is the ability to do something or control others, while authority is the right given to a person or group to use power. They are like two sides of the same coin and are very important in how groups of people, like countries or schools, are run.

Authority and Its Sources

Authority is when people agree that someone should be in charge. This can happen in different ways. Sometimes, a person has authority because of their job, like a teacher in a classroom. Other times, it might be because of tradition, like a king or queen in a country. Laws and rules also give people authority, like when police officers are allowed to keep places safe.

People with power and authority have a big responsibility. They need to use it to help others and make fair decisions. If someone with authority uses their power in a bad way, like being mean to others or not following the rules themselves, it can cause a lot of problems. It’s important for those with power to listen to the people they’re in charge of and to use their power in a good way.

Power and Authority in Everyday Life

Challenges with power and authority.

Power and authority are big ideas that affect how we live together. They can help keep things organized and safe, but they can also be used in the wrong way. By understanding what they are and how they should be used, we can all help make sure that our families, schools, and countries are fair and kind places for everyone. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, and it’s up to all of us to use it wisely.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Who Are the Far-Right Groups Behind the U.K. Riots?

After a deadly stabbing at a children’s event in northwestern England, an array of online influencers, anti-Muslim extremists and fascist groups have stoked unrest, experts say.

• Share full article

By Esther Bintliff and Eve Sampson

Esther Bintliff reported from London, and Eve Sampson from New York.

Violent unrest has erupted in several towns and cities in Britain in recent days, and further disorder broke out on Saturday as far-right agitators gathered in demonstrations around the country.

The violence has been driven by online disinformation and extremist right-wing groups intent on creating disorder after a deadly knife attack on a children’s event in northwestern England, experts said.

A range of far-right factions and individuals, including neo-Nazis, violent soccer fans and anti-Muslim campaigners, have promoted and taken part in the unrest, which has also been stoked by online influencers .

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to deploy additional police officers to crack down on the disorder. “This is not a protest that has got out of hand,” he said on Thursday. “It is a group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence.”

Here is what we know about the unrest and some of those involved.

Where have riots taken place?

The first riot took place on Tuesday evening in Southport, a town in northwestern England, after a deadly stabbing attack the previous day at a children’s dance and yoga class. Three girls died of their injuries, and eight other children and two adults were wounded.

The suspect, Axel Rudakubana , was born in Britain, but in the hours after the attack, disinformation about his identity — including the false claim that he was an undocumented migrant — spread rapidly online . Far-right activists used messaging apps including Telegram and X to urge people to take to the streets.

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