On the importance of personal sources of power in politics
Baturo, AlexanderORCID: 0000-0002-1108-5287 and Elkink, Johan A.ORCID: 0000-0002-8275-533X
(2017)
On the importance of personal sources of power in politics.
French Politics, 15
(4).
pp. 505-525.
ISSN 1476-3419
Political actors derive influence both from their official position and from
their own personal standing. However, political science has proven to be
better equipped to study formal powers and institutions. The study of
informal arrangements, where actors rely on personal connections and
authority, is more challenging. This has arguably led to the
predominance of an institutional focus in research. We argue for the
study of informal sources of power as an equally important area of
research. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples, we reintroduce the concepts of auctoritas and potestas to underline the
difference between individual and institutional sources of influence. We
discuss the various obstacles to measurement and outline attempts
proposed to date in the literature.
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
auctoritas; potestas; institutions; personal sources of power;
informal influence in politics