The power analysis of power politics and the power politics of power analysis
Recognizing the vital importance of concepts in shaping our understanding of international relations, this ground-breaking new book puts concepts front and centre, systematically unpacking them in a clear, critical and engaging way.
With contributions from some of the foremost authorities in the field, Concepts in World Politics explores 17 core concepts, from democracy to globalization, sovereignty to revolution, and covers:
- The multiple meanings of a concept, where these meanings come from, and how they are employed theoretically and practically
- The consequences of using concepts to frame the world in one way or another
- The method of concept analysis
Guzzini’s chapter picks up the concept of power, perhaps the most important concept for analysts of world politics, to advance three ways in which we can analyze concepts. Rather than offering a survey of different conceptualizations of power, which have been well discussed elsewhere, the chapter shows the crucial importance of conceptual analysis both for the critique and development of theory and as an empirical analysis of the performance nature of power analysis. In doing so, the discussion points to the analytical benefits and limits of taking a concept’s theoretical and political contexts seriously.
The chapter proceeds in three parts. The first section tackles how to understand or define a concept. Far from being a purely semantic exercise or a simple instrumental step in the operationalization of variables, it looks at concepts from their context-specific usage, including our theoretical languages. The second section investigates at the role the concept of power plays in our theoretical languages and shows how conceptual analysis can be used for the analysis and critique of theories. The third and final section focuses on the role of power in political discourse(s) and shows how the concept of power becomes itself the object of empirical analysis.
