The Problem
Consider the following phenomena:
- Following Chicago PD’s campaign to target gang leaders, gun violence in Chicago has steadily risen
- Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, splinter groups in have become a larger threat than Al-Qaeda
- Global corruption is on the rise in Western democracies as well as illiberal regimes
- Political polarization continues to exacerbate the gap between rhetoric and policy
What do the rise in propaganda and corruption in Western democracies have in common with the failure of police and military campaigns to suppress violent non-state actors? These phenomena are all examples of weak or failed attempts to design, reform and intervene in institutions of power. They reflect fundamental misunderstandings of the nature of power.
The dominant paradigms of power are failing us.
Elitist theories of power consider leader psychology, class or clique, but fail to consider the organizations in which these individuals exercise power.
Neo-institutionalist theories of power once highlighted the gap between what organizations say they do and what they actually do. However in recent years, they have over-indulged in the latter – in norms, symbols and values – and neglected the actual structure of hierarchy and the exercise of power.
Organization theory, in theory, should span these macro-micro gaps in structure and ideals. However, in recent years, organizational theory has also been dominated by neo-institutionalism and abandoned the study of structure. Moreover, organizational scholarship has been pigeon-holed by business schools and management journals into studying economic forms of organization. Ironically, organization theory was even built on studies of political instiutitons such as bureaucracies, militaries, religious organizations, parties, factions, coalitions, confederations. These days, organizational studies of political institutions are rare and esoteric.
These gaps in scope and theory have generated some epic failures in our understanding of how power actually works and operates.
The Solution
Organization of Power is a research program with a theoretical agenda, which is to understand how complex network and organizational structures enhance or constrain the exercise of power in and among political institutions. The premise of this project is that social power is essentially an organizational phenomenon. Consequently, organizational theories of power should be more accurate than theories based on individuals, classes or institutions. And more accurate theories enable more efficient design, reform or disruption of all sorts of power structures, from formal bureaucracies to informal coalitions and everything in-between.
The ultimate goals of this project are to generate theories of power rooted in organizational and network concepts. For these theories to be applicable in the real-world, the concepts should be unambiguous and measurable, and their effects should be significant and evident. To this end, concepts and causal arguments are derived from empirical research in our chosen laboratory of East Asian and Central Asian politics. Between hard and soft authoritarian regimes, Third-Wave democracies and post-Soviet states, these regions offer an interesting mix of political systems from which to sample local and national political elites.
Follow these links to learn more about our primary empirical projects on:
The Team
This project has been very fortunate to be supported by dedicated co-authors and research assistants from Kazakhstan to Korea, Taiwan and Europe.
The Wiki
Project-related resources are gathered in the Organization of Power Wiki. This includes:
- Encyclopedia of organizational theories
- Research and Data from empirical studies
- Software for organizational analysis
- Collaboration opportunities
- Academic resources