November 14: “In the code of the Satyagrahi there is no such thing as surrender to brute force.” –Gandhi (Young India, April 30, 1931) This week, when suicide bombers targeted a busy south Beirut marketplace, an indiscriminate attack on men, women, children, whoever happened to be there on an evening like any other, it was… read more
Tag Archives: integrative power
Turning fear into power
“Be gentle, be truthful, be fearless.” -M.K. Gandhi Finding one’s personal path, or sva-dharma, is essential to facilitating the transition to a nonviolent future. Fears and uncertainties can impede us. Community plays an important role in supporting the individual’s unfolding– we can create communities that bow down to fear or we can create communities that foster… read more
Threat Power
Threat Power is one of three forces identified by Kenneth Boulding, Quaker peace theorist and economist that play roles in human interaction. Underlying Threat Power is a simple equation: Unless you perform or yield X, I will do Y. Y almost always involves violence, whether physical, emotional, psychological or structural. Threat Power has attained a… read more
Exchange Power
Exchange power is the second of Quaker peace theorist and economist Kenneth Boulding’s “three faces of power.” Exchange Power comes into play in most of our every-day actions, for example, economic transactions when we say, “I will give you Y, if you perform or yield X.” Exchange Power may or may not be coercive, so… read more
Integrative Power
Integrative power is the third and least understood of Quaker peace theorist and economist Kenneth Boulding’s “three faces of power.” Integrative power can be articulated as “I will take positive action to represent the truth as I see it, and I have faith that in the process we will draw closer in our relationship.” Boulding… read more
