Patterns of Power – Summary

Description

This book examines how power is exerted over us, to see whether it promotes the common good and lets us live our lives in the way we want to.  It reveals patterns of behaviour within each of the five dimensions of power: money, moral influence, the law, political decision-making, and the ungoverned use of force.

It aims to help readers to understand what the powerful are doing, and why – and to hold them to account.  It provides evidence from recent events to support its arguments, using readily-accessible Internet sources.

This is a medium-length version of Edition 4 of these books. It explains how power is assessed, describes each dimension of power, and concludes by highlighting areas for renegotiation. It describes each pattern of power and offers hyperlinks to the patternsofpower.org website for more detail.