Measuring Empowerment at Local and Community Levels

1. Measuring Empowermentat Local and Community Levels Ryukoku University, Kyoto Norman Uphoff, Cornell University July 23, 2005

2. The Key Concept is POWER • Need to understand and be clear about Power in order to understand/promote empowement • Big problem: “power” does not really exist – it is an artifact of language, verbal shorthand • The consequences of what the word Power refers to do exist and are meaningful • Biblical expression applies: “by its fruits ye shall know it” • But that is not much help for rigorous analysis • Need to know what power is to confer or enhance it

3. This presents ontological challenge • What isontology? The study/science/logic of reality • What is real? • What exists? We should seek rigorous/disciplines answers • Two fallacies have been identified by the great British philosopher, Lord Alfred North Whitehead(1861-1947) • The fallacy of ‘misplaced concreteness,’ e.g., GNP • The ‘pathetic fallacy’ – attributing thinking, emotion, action to inanimate (non-living) things – big but common mistake

4. Most influential thinking on Power • German social scientist Max Weber (1864-1920) wrote extensively and clearly on this subject • Power is: (a) the probability that (b) someone in a social relationship will (c ) be able to achieve his/her will, (d) despite resistance, (e) regardless of the bases (power means) on which that probability rests • Power = probability (ex ante), not a thing

5. Some implications of this understanding • Power cannot be possessed – one can possess only the means of power, i.e., the bases of power • Power is a matter of degree and is never certain (possibility of ‘perverse power’) • 2-person power relationships very different and much simpler than are actual real-world n-person power relationships • Power depends basically upon objectives

6. Some implications of this understanding • Power can be both absolute and relative • Power can be zero-sum and positive-sum • Power over... is different from power to… • Paradox of decentralization: does devolving power to local government diminish the power of the central government? • Only if central government does not want for local residents what they want for themselves Power is a useful concept, even if mental fiction

7. How to ‘Get Real’ about Power? • By focusing on power resources and on how they are used – also on consequences • Set of six power resources(Ilchman and Uphoff, The Political Economy of Change, University of California Press, 1969; Transaction Books, 1998) • Economic resources:land, labor, capital [money] • Social status: esteem, deference [prestige] • Information • Force: coercion (with legitimate), violence (without) • Legitimacy: belief an action/decision is right/proper • Authority: claim to right to speak ‘in name of the state’

8. How to ‘Get Real’ about Power? • How these power resources are used – how effectively, consistently, creatively – is as important as the resources themselves • Resources x use = power (achieving one’s will) • If either term = 0, power = 0 • Reputation for power enhances power – increases the probability that one can achieve one’s will • Power resources ≠ power results – many reasons • Empowerment requires both resources and capabilities, plus favorable processes and context

9. Table 10.1:Analytical Framework for Measurement and Promotion of Empowerment of the Poor

13. Table 10.2:Opportunities for Promoting and Measuring Empowerment of the Poor

16. Importance of Subjective Factors • In effort to be more rigorous about power and empowerment, and to be focusing on ‘real’ things, should not forget that subjective factors (ideas, norms, values, etc.) are also part of ‘reality’ – have ontological status • Consideration of ‘cognitive’ vs. ‘structural’ aspects of ‘social capital’ -- norms, values, attitudes and beliefs vs. roles, rules, precedents and procedures -- EXAMPLE