User talk:SteRos7/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar 2/Power

Power in international politics and relations
Even though, as you said, it is difficult to give a single definition of power in international relations, in an article published in the International Organization, Jeffrey Hart distinguished three ways to assess and analyze power at the scale of international relations. It provides a framework so that we can better try to define power. For him, power would be measured first by the resources held. Then according to the actors directly or indirectly involved in these international relations, based on Robert Dahl’s definition of power which is “the power is the ability of A to get B to do something which he would otherwise not do”. Finally and most importantly, he also talks about the links between actions and events rather than actors directly. One way to assess power would therefore be to estimate control over certain events or outcomes that do not necessarily directly concern the actor of the event (eg. Exclusion of Venezuela and Ecuador from the Trad Act by the US : no important consequences for the US but substantial ones for Venezuela and Ecuador).

I also find interesting articles on soft and hard power :

https://www.e-ir.info/pdf/49538 and https://www.jstor.org/stable/26328671

--Write&Leave (discuss • contribs) 12:53, 9 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Good contributions and an interesting article. You may also be interested in the concept of sharp power(propoganda).
 * https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=831031 This is an article on china's use of soft, hard and sharp power in the global arena, especially in relationship to the USA and their fascinating tactic's in using hollywood's economic insentivisation to influence them to create pro-chinese propaganda (only films that show china in a positive light are allowed to be shown). There are also interesting instances of the use of sharp power throughout the cold war.
 * --Oliveoilandgarlic (discuss • contribs) 14:41, 9 November 2020 (UTC)

I think that when analyzing power in the field of International Relations it is especially interesting to look at how different theories such as realism explore the idea of power.

There are two types of realism that have a different approach to power. The first one is defensive realism that is explored by political sociologists Kenneth Waltz or Robert Jervis. This branch explains that a country should not try to gain too much power as it will be punished by the international system. Indeed, because of the anarchy of the international system, when one country becomes too powerful, other countries are forced to create flexible alliances to bring the increasingly dominant country to an average level of power. This auto-regulating system punishes countries that seek to much power, showing that power is only needed in a certain quantity in order to create a balance in the international order.

However, in offensive realism, states are seen as power maximizers. Indeed, a state only obtains total security when it becomes the global hegemon. Otherwise, a country will always be insecure about other states intentions. This theory therefore uses power as a way to achieve security, but not as a mean to control others.

We can therefore see that in the realist theory of International Relations, power is a mean to obtain balance in the international system (defensive) and a way to achieve national security (offensive), rather than a tool to influence other countries decisions; showing us the multipolarity of power in this discipline.

Power in Health
I find your topic very interesting. However, I struggled to understand some of the sentences. I corrected a few mistakes, please doublecheck the text. I have a few suggestions that could further improve your work.

Firstly, I do not agree with this statement: "These inequalities in healthcare are complex, but are arguably not always due to racism but instead arises from an institutionalised problem in society, built on unconscious biases". Stating that racism is not the cause of health inequalities is very controversial. One could argue that the "institutionalised problem", that you have mentioned, is due to systemic racism. I attach a few articles, that could be very useful. Moreover, you could elaborate more on unconscious bias. Don't you think that it could have emerged from stereotyping and racism?

Secondly, PDI (Power Distance Index) is a very interesting concept, that has its application in healthcare. The index investigates how the understanding of power differs between countries. I know a study by Meeuwesen et al (2009), who investigated how PDI impacts medical communication between the patient and the doctor. You could mention it in "The relationship between the doctor and the patient" section.

PDI (Power Distance Index)/ Cultural Dimensions - https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/ Meeuwesen et al study - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399108005302?via%3Dihub

Thirdly, I would advise you to read one more time through your text. The long sentences are confusing and do not improve the overall communication of your work.

--Grammaloretoo (discuss • contribs) 01:18, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for your contributions, I read about the PDI and this is really interesting. For your first point I totally agree with you that these inequalities emerged from stereotyping and racism, this passage in the text is not from me someone added it.

--Write&Leave (discuss • contribs) 10:40, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Hello @Bascer1000, I am delighted with your great contribution on my text. I decided to repost the part of the text that belongs to you on this page as it is here that the contributions must be made :

These inequalities in healthcare treatment are complex. It is important to realise that these inequalities do not simply stem from individual racism on behalf of doctors, but instead are a more institutionalised problem of in the profession and society as a whole. The power dynamics presented in healthcare are multi-dimensional. Discrimination concerning equity in access to healthcare and the quality of treatment once it is recieved works to diminish the power that minorities have over their treatment. A blunt example of this is that 'Black Americans are systematically underrated for pain relative to White Americans'. New policies and change in society are needed to re-balance this power and eliminate the injustice between patients. The National Committee of Vital Health and Statistics suggests that in order to address racial bias in healthcare, data on medical encounters need to be consistently reported. It is believed that this will enable researchers to spot systematic patterns of discrimination'

--Write&Leave (discuss • contribs) 10:50, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi @Write&Leave and @Grammaloretoo - thanks for your comments. Apologies for putting the section in the wrong place! Also wanted to correct my point above- i was intending to argue that inequalities in healthcare and treatment were less due to conscious, individual racism on behalf of the doctors but was more due to an institutionalised problem of racism in the profession and society as a whole. Thank you for flagging this up -it is an important clarification. I have edited the above passage.

--Bascer1000 (discuss • contribs) 14:42, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi! This was a great contribution and cooperation. Good that we sorted that out! --Grammaloretoo (discuss • contribs) 16:56, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Male Power in Global Politics
Hi! Once again as I contributed to Power in Health, I think PDI (Power Distance Index) would work great here. It is a part of Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory and explains how the relations between the people in power and "normal" citizens affect humans behaviour. You could look at how PDI effects men-women relationships. Moreover, you could look at the negatives of male domination and politics in terms of Covid-19 pandemic.

--Grammaloretoo (discuss • contribs) 17:00, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Power in Social Media
No references subheading even though there were in text citations so fixed that and also made some grammatical and stylistic changes to your work in order to make it read better. I also think it would be interesting if you expanded on the Influence Marketing as you've blanketed it to one type of interaction between influencer and company when, in reality, there are many different contract types influencers have with companies (some being more transparent than others), and the difference this clarity makes in manipulating its users.Apricotptr (discuss • contribs) 12:26, 17 November 2020 (UTC)