Pages: (1-14 )
Abstract
The tendency to abuse power was evident in the 20th century especially by Nihilists who were great dictators of the century significantly Adolf Hitler of Germany, Benito Mussolini of Italy, Friedrich Nietzche, Gik Chesterson and Scholpenhauer all tended to apply a blatantly aggressive behaviour. Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that no strongman can be master and dominate forever, unless he ‘…..transforms his power into right and obedience to duty’. To him ‘conventions remain as the basis of all lawful authority among men’.
The paper which is qualitative and descriptive in nature, dug into the essence of power, looked at the beginnings of power emergence especially exploration and travels in search for the golden items of value till slavery became a treasure of significant instrument for working on plantations, administering the monopoly of power on the seas and in strange continents. It examined colonialism as a factor in pushing from slavery to commercial adventure and inflicting total dominance through direct and indirect rule in protectorates and colonies.
The study found that one of the most mysterious and elusive concepts in the world, is Power. Its definitions, its boundaries, its usefulness, its inscrutability, tempt scholars to sometimes compare it to love or to the weather. It discovered that there is a distinction between hard and soft power, hard power referring to military and economic greatness as a cause and effect of the elusiveness of power. Multiple kinds of power also came to the fore. Also, there has been imperial powers; Macedonia, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman Turkey, China, Peru, Mexico, Old Oyo, Benin, Soviet Union, the powerful United States and even the European Union. Some later empires emerged from colonization and wars and consequently de-colonisation.
The study concluded that power is interpreted as hard core military and industrial/economic power that transcends a country over others. As shown in military successes and tragedies particularly in the first and second World Wars and the aftermaths, military power supported by economic power have dictated the pace of the planet’s operational superiority and prominence.
Keywords: Bridging, Power, Gap, Governance, Leader, People,