Poder. (Trayectorias teóricas de un concepto)

The characterization of power presupposes confronting two basic dichotomies that define it as of one the fundamental concepts of political theory and political science: force versus consent, and capacity versus praxis. However, understanding these dichotomies and eventually overcoming them requires participation in the very exercise of power in which politics is symbolically defined. Debate over defining the concept of power inevitably forms part of the political game configured by its exercise. In consequence, in this text such debates are presented as a complex array of intellectual and cultural forces that are in permanent tension, conflict and contradiction.