Influence and Power

This book will be of interest to legal, political and other social theorists/philosophers. Unique in its topics as well as in its approach, the book takes substantial steps towards answering essential questions about political influence. It analyses the concepts of social, political and legal power with a view towards arriving at an adequate and theoretically relevant distinction between power and influence. This volume contains an extensive overview and critical assessment; explores the conceptual relationship between freedom and power; assesses the distinctions made in existing scholarship between power and influence; presents the author’s own proposal for a definition of influence as opposed to power; combines insights from political theory, legal philosophy and the general theory of norms; is densely argued, yet accessible to all interested readers without any prerequisite of special prior knowledge; is transparently structured, written in a clear style, avoiding social-scientific jargon and using ordinary language. "Exact but not exacting, this is a fine work of overview and analysis; it makes an excellent contribution to the literature on power and freedom." Philip Pettit, Wi