What is Power?

“The possession of control or command over others” is how a dictionary may describe power, but I would phrase it differently. I would say power is the ability to act upon the wants and need of the thing in power whether it is a government authority such as a tyrant, a monarch, or a dictator or a large scale industry controlling the market. We have been studying power in its different forms in this classroom all year, yet it is still a hard issue to describe. However, the main point from what I understand, is that power has not changed since the dark ages of England in the 1760’s until the present moment and beyond into the globalized world. Power hasn’t changed and will never change, but the holders of the power have changed. Starting in England, the industrial revolution brought about many changes which later spread around the world. People, mainly the peasants, were pushed into cities to get jobs after the enclosure movement which divided up land to benefit the higher class and the threshing machine decreasing the amount of labor needed. Soon, industrialization was spreading across the world, including America where industrialization really took off due to the lack of manufacturing traditions, shipping canals and railroads moving goods around the country, and finally the advances in technology such as Eli Whitney’s interchangeable parts or Henry Ford’s assembly line. These all gave technology the power to develop and industrialize the world. The next phase of power, held by the Europeans over the Africans, would be called Imperialism. Imperialism, the policy by a stronger nation to attempt to create an empire by dominating weaker nations either economically, politically, culturally, or militarily. With Europe in need of land, labor, and capitol after the industrial revolution they sought out developing countries to acquire the materials needed. Most of the countries of Africa had been colonized and imperialized which had enormous negative effects on each country. The people of Africa were also used to the Europeans will by becoming slaves. These slaves were shipped all over the world to work for now pay or benefits. The imperialism of Europe over Africa lead to the many conflicts over power from World War One to the Cold War. Beginning in Europe, World War One was caused by Awful Governments, Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, Alliances, and the list of events leading up to its beginning. This left Europe with many problems due to instability, uncertainty, and economic collapse, which lead to World War Two. World War two left Europe divided into Capitalist and Communist. The Cold War followed within the next few years. These conflicts over power lead into the globalization of the world by developing each country to keep up with the technology based world. Globalization has flattened the playing field of the competing countries. Now, the countries of the world are being westernized and equalized. Globalization is where the world is now, and probably will continue to develop until the power is shifted from technology to the next holder. From the Industrial Revolution to Imperialism to Conflict and finally globalization, the power has changed hands many times over the past few centuries. However, the power that has been held has not changed, just been modified to each holders’ needs. Power has been, and will continue to be exchanged, but the difference now is the power might be shifted to technology.