Countering Sources of Power

From Peacebuilding

Contents 1 Note: 2 Aims: 3 Time: 4 Materials: 5 Procedure: 5.1 PART ONE 5.2 PART TWO

Note:

This activity is more appropriate when working with participants from the same country/context. It requires participants to investigate and discuss political power and its sources in their specific situation. Please be aware that the issues emerging might be disturbing for some of the participants, and that conflicting views might emerge. Centring the discussion on participants’ situations can generate considerable energy for the workshop and foster true disclosure.

Aims:

• To identify the sources of political power

• To investigate the relationship between political power and the cooperation of society

Time:

90 minutes

Materials:

• Flip charts

• Markers

Procedure:

PART ONE

I) Facilitate a brainstorming session with the plenary. Start with the question: “What are the sources of political power in your country?”

II) Gather all the participants’ contributions and write them on a flip chart. Quantity is more important than quality at this point. Note down all contributions without expressing your opinion on them. You can encourage participants by asking such questions as:

• What role does the use of force play in the power of your government?

• To what extent do the people see it as a legitimate government?

• What kind of economic resources does the government rely on?

• Who are its allies within the country and abroad?

• What psychological factors encourage people to obey the government – or political power in general?

• What role does tradition (or culture, or religion) play in the way in which people recognise the government’s power and authority?

III) End the session when you notice that energy is flagging (5-10 minutes is usually enough). Make sure the flip chart with the contributions can be seen by all participants – hang any extra pages on the wall. Make sure all the contributions are separate, as in a list of bullet points.

IV) Give three Post-it® notes to each participant and ask them to vote for the most important sources of political power in their country. Each person should come up to the flip chart and stick one, two or three Post-it® notes on the points they choose until they’ve used all three.

V) Ask everyone to go back to their seats. Identify the three most important sources of political power by counting the number of Post-it® notes stuck on each one.

PART TWO

VI) Divide the plenary into groups of 5-6 people.

VII) Assign this task: “Identify the means of nonviolent struggle that oppose and diminish the three most important sources of political power in your country”. Ask the groups to be specific and realistic. You can use questions to help them in their task, such as:

• How would you do that?

• How do you think this would oppose and diminish (mention the specific source of power)?

• What would you like to change?

• Who would you like to influence and how?

• What would your strategy be?

• What would be your goal? Would it be realistic and achievable?

• How would you define success in such a struggle?

• What kind of resistance would you likely encounter? How would you deal with that?

• Who could help you?

• What resources would you need?

Allow sufficient time.

VIII) Return to the plenary. Read out the first source of political power, as identified by participants. Ask one group to say what they’d do to oppose and diminish it. Discuss with participants.

IX) Ask other groups to present their findings on the first source of political power and discuss.

X) Repeat steps VIII) and IX) with the second and third sources of political power.