7.1.1 The Role of Self-Protection

(The latest version of this page is at Pattern Descriptions. An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/711.htm)

Each of the other four dimensions of power is designed to exert collective constraints upon types of behaviour which harm other people. Breaches of the rules can be analysed within the relevant dimension – so crime, for example, is met by law enforcement within the Legal Dimension. People or groups have to protect themselves, though, where there are no established authorities, stable rules or adequate enforcement mechanisms. This practice of Self-Protection isn’t only used when governance is failing: it can be an accepted convention, whereby people, organisations or countries directly negotiate with each other on a case-by-case basis as a chosen alternative, or as a supplement, to formal governance.

There are four main scenarios where Self-Protection is used:

· There are situations where ad hoc peer-to-peer negotiation is more effective than providing formal mechanisms of control.

· Risk-sharing can sometimes supplement the protection services provided by the established governance mechanisms.

· Self-Protection can be used as a substitute for current governance mechanisms which are deemed insufficiently robust to be relied upon. The use of force, instead of using the decision-making machinery of formal governance, is a common example – particularly in international relations.

· Ad hoc responses are necessary in situations where breaches of the governance framework, either by those who have power or by those who are under it, exceed the parameters that it catered for.

The other four dimensions of governance can be seen as protecting people’s rights against the misuse of individual freedom. In the absence of governance, individuals, organisations and countries are free to act as they choose. Self-Protection might therefore be seen as desirable – particularly by individualists – but it can rely upon an adversarial trial of strength to establish a balance of power, instead of established rules and meaningful negotiation, so it usually results in agreements that would not be considered binding by the weaker party.