Analyze the Nature, Dimensions/Types and Consequences of Power

NATURE OF POWER
 

Power is the ability to direct other behavior to get what you want. The driving force moving the resources from institution A to institution B or the influence of a parent on his child. The authority of a politician to change policies for his interest. The circumstance may amount to coercion or the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. According to Dalberg, an English historian, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He warned that power is inherently evil and those who possess it cannot be trusted.

DIMENSIONS OF POWER

Power as Decision-Making
This face of power consists of conscious actions that in some way influence the content of decisions. Identifying who has power is done by analyzing decisions in the light of the known preferences of the actors involved. The implication of this view of power is that the most powerful actors in society are those whose opinions are considered and upheld in the decision-making. The powerful are able to get what they want and make others behave the way they want them to. Decisions can be influenced in a variety of ways. Keith Boulding distinguished between the use of force or intimidation (the stick), productive exchanges involving mutual gain (the deal), and the creation of obligations, loyalty, and commitment (the kiss).
 
Power as Agenda Setting
The second face of power is the ability to prevent decisions being made: that is, in effect, ‘non-decision-making’. This involves the ability to set or control the political agenda, thereby preventing issues or proposals from being aired in the first place.
 
Power as Thought Control

The third face of power is the ability to influence another by shaping what he or she thinks, wants, or needs. This is power expressed as ideological indoctrination or psychological control.

 
TAXONOMY OF POWER                                  

In 1959, John French and Bertram Raven created the six (6) bases of power to understand the influence of a leader.

A formal right to make demands based on his/her authority is known as legitimate power. Example, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, elected by the people, making him a legitimate leader of the Philippines with an authority to direct other servants of the government to help him to accomplish his goals.

The reward power is the capability to compensate other person for compliance. Example, A manager's authority to promote an employee.

The coercive power is the ability to punish a person in case of noncompliance. Example, if an employer forces or threats his employee to do an act whether lawful or unlawful,

If a leader is charismatic the people automatically follow him this is known as referent power. Examples of charismatic people are Pope John Paul II and President Duterte.

The expert power, under this circumstance education or experience is the essential ingredient. Example, everybody, listen to a lawyer, if there is a controversy in law.

When a person holds information that may significantly affects the decision of a person is known informational power.

 
CONSEQUENCES OF POWER
There are three consequences of power: compliance, commitment and resistance. Employing certain types of power in particular ways may result into these consequences.

Compliance refers to the readiness or act of agreeing to do something.

The two types of power most likely to cause compliance are legitimate or position power and reward power.

1.Compliance with the order may occur if it is perceived to be within the leader’s scope of authority.

2.Compliance is most likely to happen if the reward is something valued by the target person.

Commitment is an even more desirable outcome because of the trust and emotional pledge that it causes. It is perceived as loyalty or a sense of dedication or devotion. Commitment is most likely to be the consequence when the powers used are referent and expert.

The common way to exercise referent power is merely to ask someone with whom one has a friendship to do something.

Expert power may result to commitment if the leader presents logical arguments and supporting evidence for a particular proposal, order or policy. It will depend on the leader’s credibility and persuasive communication skills in addition to technical knowledge and logical or analytical ability.

Commitment is a very unlikely consequence if coercive power is employed.
 

Resistance means to refuse or to oppose. It is the most likely outcome when coercive power is used in a hostile or manipulative way. It is best to use coercion power in preventing behavior that is harmful to the society and well-being of the people such as illegal and violent activities. (Heywood 2007)
 
CONFORMITY

Power is abused by compliance with the standards set by the society. People are often quick to conform just to please others.

Sometime in 1960, Stanley Milgram studied conformity to the authority. The participants were paid by the researcher to take a certain role. The participant (as a teacher) was told to shock the participant (as a learner) whenever an incorrect answer was given. In the study, the participants (learners) were confederates who pretended to be hurt by the electric shock. He told the participants (teachers) that they would not be held liable for whatever happened to the participants (learners) and that he needed their help to complete his experiment. The result ended up being that all participants were willing to administer up to 300 volts, and 65% were willing to go up to 450 volts.

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Political Ideologies

Ideologies refers to body of concepts or a set of beliefs or principles, especially those of a particular group or political party. Hence, political ideology is the allocation of power and to what purpose or ends it should be used. Accordingly, political ideologies have two dimensions; (1) Goals –how the society should be organized and (2) Methods - the most appropriate way to achieve the goal.

Aristotle’s Ideology

Aristotle known as the father of political science. He believed that the study is a powerful branch of science which held authority over other branches, such as military science. Moreover, he believed that fundamental achievement happiness derived from state, how it is organized and how the people pursue its ends.
He argued that there are six forms of government, categorize into ruled by one, ruled by few and ruled by many, each where further divided it into “defective or bad and “true forms or good.”

Aristotle classification of government	Defective or perfected for the interest of the ruler(s)	Good or “True forms” For the common interest
Ruled by One	Tyranny	Monarchy
Ruled by Few	Oligarchy	Aristocracy
Ruled by Many	Democracy	Polity

He described that tyrant is a usurper of power or acquired his power by force and rules over unwilling subjects. Based on his book politics: “Any sole ruler, who is not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interest and not theirs, can only be exercising a tyranny.”                                                                                                                         
Monarchy is ruled by one person whose authority derived not from election but through heredity. A form of government where the head of state is called often called king, queen, emperor or tsar. A monarch holds his position until death or abdication. Monarchy is classified into two; firstly, absolute monarchy and secondly, limited monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, the power of the king originated from divine right. The doctrine that king source of authority is from God, not from their subjects. Therefore, rebellion is the worst of political crime, for the reason, defying the order of the king is disobeying God. The monarch holds absolute power without constitution limiting it. All the properties of the nation is under complete control of the king.

Limited Monarchy also known as Constitutional Monarchy. The monarch must act in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution.  He is bound to exercise the powers or authorities within the limits prescribed by law. The country under this form delegates its power to promulgate laws to the parliament and holds the judicial and executive power. However, most of the country today, the monarch is just mere ceremonial leader with a limited executive power and influence, compare to the prime minister.

Oligarchy derived from the Greek words oligarkhia which means few and arkho meaning to rule or command.  This form of government is ruled by the few, to Aristotle it is ruled by rich, for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy. These few people claim that the most essential things to rule are wealth, social status and education. They are motivated by their self-interest to protect wealth. People are not given the rights to participate in the government. In contrary, the term Aristocracy derives from the Greek word aristokratia, meaning “rule of the best.” The few people that were chosen are endowed with the attributes to rule. “
Aristotle observes that the dominant class in oligarchy (literally rule of the oligoi, i.e., few) is typically the wealthy, whereas in democracy (literally rule of the dêmos, i.e., people) it is the poor, so that these economic classes should be included. He argued that the propriety constitution or government is represented by polity of middle class citizens.

In the democratic form of government, the state function through the law created by the politician which they create for their self-interest, to Aristotle “there are two parts of good government; one is the actual obedience of citizens to the laws, the other part is the goodness of the laws which they obey.”

Karl Marx’s Ideology

According to Marx society is divided into social classes: (1) Bourgeoisie, the Capitalist or Business owner who is the owner of the properties and control the production and (2) Proletariat, the workers who transform raw materials into economic goods. The capitalist controls the business, to maximize the profits he pays the laborers the lowest wage and employ social institutions as tools, like government to enforce law to maintain ownership of properties, church and education for propaganda. Laborers view the employment as a means of survival. This circumstance would eventually lead to revolution and end of capitalism.

Economic Determinism

It is a theory that economic relationships are the foundation upon which all other societal and political arrangement is based. This means every social institutions such as religion institution and political institution are determine by economic institution.

Dialectic Materialism

The Marxist theory (adopted as the official philosophy of the Soviet communists) that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and are interpretable as a series of contradictions and their solutions. The conflict is seen as caused by material needs.

The haves (the rich or bourgeoisie) refer to the thesis or idea in conflict with the have-nots (the poor or proletariat) refer to the anthesis or counter idea. He founded that this would lead to Synthesis or New Idea. It is very evident to his theory that revolution would bring desire change.

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Rights in a Democratic State

If the power of the government is unlimited then the result would tyranny. Hence, in a democratic state the bill of rights is inserted to the provision of the constitution, to addressed the State, notably the government, telling it what it cannot do to the individual. All the powers of the government (police power, power of eminent domain and power of taxation) are limited by the bill of rights. It is a guarantee that there are certain areas of person’s life, liberty or property which government power may not touch. Example, it is stated on the Philippine Constitution, that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”   

Due Process of law means it hears before it condemns, which proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after trial. Applies to all persons, without regard to any difference in race, color or nationality. The right to life includes the right of an individual to his body in its completeness, free from dismemberment, and extends to the use of God-given faculties which make life enjoyable. The right to liberty which includes the right to exist and the right to be free from arbitrary personal restraint or servitude. The right to property is anything that come under the right of ownership and be the subject of contract. It represents more than the things a person owns; it includes the right to secure, use and dispose of them.                                                                                              

Equal protection of the law is embraced in the concept of due process, as every unfair discrimination offends the requirements of justice and fair play. It has nonetheless been embodied in a separate clause in Section 1 of Article III to provide for a more specific guaranty against any form of undue favoritism or hostility from the government. Arbitrariness in general may be challenged on the basis of the due process clause. But if the particular act assailed partakes of an unwarranted partiality or prejudice, the sharper weapon to cut it down is the equal protection clause

Other rights provided in a democratic state are the following:

1. Political rights which is granted by law to members of a community in relation to their direct or indirect participation in the establishment or administration of government. 

2. Civil Rights which municipal law will enforce at the instance of private individuals for the purpose of securing them the enjoyment of their means of happiness.

3. Social and Economics Rights which generally require implementing legislation.  

References

Lectures Notes  from the following persons: (1) Atty. Edwin Sandoval, (2) Jusitce Eduardo Antonio Nachura, (3) Father Joaguin Bernas, (4) Justice Isagani Cruz and (5) Atty Agpalo

Analyze the roles and responsibilities of the Philippines Judiciary

Branches of the Government

The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided among its three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

The legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and repeal them through the power vested in the Philippine Congress. This institution is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The executive branch carries out laws. It is composed of the President and the Vice President, who are elected by direct popular vote and serve a term of six years. The Constitution grants the President authority to appoint his Cabinet. These departments form a large portion of the country’s bureaucracy.

The judicial branch evaluates laws. It holds the power to settle controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and enforceable. This branch determines whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part and instrumentality of the government. It is made up of a Supreme Court and lower courts. (retrieved from: https://pia.gov.ph/branches-of-government)

According to Jayson & Reyes (1993), the judiciary is the branch of government that interprets the law of the state and upon which devolves the application of the law for the settlement of conflicts arising from the relations between persons and between government and persons.

The judicial branch of government is known as the guardian of the Constitution. It protects the liberties and freedoms written in the Constitution. It ascertains and decides rights, punishes crimes, administers justice, and protects innocent individuals from injury, usurpation, and other wrongful acts.

Judicial Review: It is the power of the Judicial Branch of government to determine the validity of executive and legislative acts if they are in accordance with the Constitution. This is known as an expression of the supremacy of the Constitution.

A justiciable question can be entertained by the court. It is a given right, legally demandable and enforceable, an act or omission violative of such right, and a remedy granted by law for said breach of right. However, political questions are questions of policy. They involve the wisdom of an act or the efficacy or the necessity of a particular measure. These are questions that are better left for the political branches of the government to determine or resolve. For instance, recall a mode of removing a local official from his post even before his term ends due to a lack of confidence. It is a political question that cannot be intruded upon by the courts.

Qualifications and Hierarchy of Courts The general qualification cited in the constitution is “proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence. In addition, based on the hierarchy of courts are the following:

Justices of the Supreme Court (1) Natural-born citizen; (2) At least 40 years of age; (3) 15 years or more a judge of a lower court or has been engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines for the same period

Justices of the Court of Appeals (1) Same qualifications as those provided for SC Justices, and (2) Congress may prescribe other qualifications.

Regional Trial Court Judges (1) Citizen of the Philippines; (2) At least 35 years of age; (3) Has been engaged in the practice of law for at least 5 years or has held public office in the Philippines requiring admission to the practice of law as an indispensable requisite

Municipal Trial Court Judges (1) Citizens of the Philippines; (2) At least 30 years of age; (3) Has been engaged in the practice of law for at least 5 years or has held public office in the Philippines requiring admission to the practice of law as an indispensable requisite.

Judicial power rests with the Supreme Court and the lower courts, as established by law (Art. VIII, sec. 1 of the 1987 Constitution). Its duty is to settle actual controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and enforceable (Art. VIII Sec. 1(2)).

The judiciary enjoys fiscal autonomy. Its appropriation may not be reduced by the Legislature below the appropriated amount the previous year (Art. VIII, Sec. 3).

Please visit this link for the history of the judiciary: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/387.

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