Dominik Meier, Christian Blum Power and its Logic Political Science | Volume 64 This open access publication has been enabled by the support of POLLUX (Fachinforma- tionsdienst Politikwissenschaft) and a collaborative network of academic libraries for the promotion of the Open Access transformation in the Social Sciences and Humanities (transcript Open Library Politik- wissenschaft 2019) Bundesministerium der Verteidigung | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek –Nie- dersächsische Landesbibliothek | Harvard University | Kommunikations-, Infor- mations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) der Universität Konstanz | Landesbibliothek Ol- denburg | Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) | Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek | Sächsische Landesbibliothek Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden | Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen (POLLUX – Informationsdienst Politikwissenschaft) | Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Carl von Ossietzky, Ham- burg | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin | Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover | Thü- ringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena (ThULB) | ULB Düsseldorf Universi- täts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf | Universitätsbibliothek Erfurt | Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek der Technischen Universität Darmstadt | Universitäts- und Landesbi- bliothek Münster | Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln | Universitätsbibliothek Bay- reuth | Universitätsbibliothek Bielefeld | Universitätsbibliothek der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar | Universitätsbibliothek der FernUniversität Hagen | Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Universitätsbibliothek der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen | Universitätsbibliothek der Ruhr-Universität Bochum | Universitätsbibliothek der Technischen Universität Braunschweig | Universitätsbibliothek der Universität Koblenz Landau | Universitätsbibliothek der Universität Potsdam | Universitätsbiblio- thek Duisburg-Essen | Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg | Universitätsbiblio- thek Freiburg | Universitätsbibliothek Graz | Universitätsbibliothek J. C. Senckenberg an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt | Universitätsbibliothek Kassel | Universitätsbi- bliothek Leipzig | Universitätsbibliothek der LMU München | Universitätsbibliothek Mainz | Universitätsbibliothek Marburg | Universitätsbibliothek Oldenburg | Universi- tätsbibliothek Osnabrück | Universitätsbibliothek Siegen | Universitätsbibliothek Vech- ta | Universitätsbibliothek Wien | Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal | Zentral- und Hoch- schulbibliothek Luzern | Zentralbibliothek Zürich This publication is compliant with the “Recommendations on quality standards for the open access provision of books”, Nationaler Open Access Kontaktpunkt 2018 (https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2932189) * * * Dominik Meier, born in 1969, is the owner and Managing Director of Miller & Meier Consulting, a political strategy consultancy he co-founded in 1997. He is chairman of the German Association of Political Consultants (de'ge'pol), which was founded in 2002. Furthermore, he is Vice President of the Public Affairs Community of Europe (PACE) and a member of the Advisory Board of Transparency International Deutschland. Christian Blum, born in 1980, is Head of Office and Network Coordinator of Miller & Meier Consulting. He is a lecturer at the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes). Dominik Meier, Christian Blum Power and its Logic Politics and how to master it Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Na- tionalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No- Derivatives 4.0 (BY-NC-ND) which means that the text may be used for non-commer- cial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ To create an adaptation, translation, or derivative of the original work and for commer- cial use, further permission is required and can be obtained by contacting rights@ transcript-verlag.de Creative Commons license terms for re-use do not apply to any content (such as graphs, figures, photos, excerpts, etc.) not original to the Open Access publication and further permission may be required from the rights holder. The obligation to research and clear permission lies solely with the party re-using the material. © 2019 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover layout: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Printed by Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar Proofread by Katharine M. Thomas, Karoline Tippelt-Wohl Translated by Katharine M. Thomas, Michael A. Dudley Layout and typeset by Karoline Tippelt-Wohl Print-ISBN 978-3-8376-4497-5 PDF-ISBN 978-3-8394-4497-9 https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839444979 Table of Contents Acknowledgements | 7 0 Introduction | 9 0.1 Preface | 9 0.2 Structure and Substance | 11 0.3 Methods | 14 1 The Nature of Power | 17 1.1 Definitional Approach | 17 1.2 Basic Principles of Power | 30 1.3 Humankind, Power and History – Follow-Up Questions | 47 2 The Concretions of Power | 59 2.1 Forms of Power | 59 2.2 Power and Symbolism | 69 2.3 Power Fields | 78 2.3.1 Religion | 84 2.3.2 The Economic Power Field | 91 2.3.3 The Political Power Field | 109 2.4 The Common Good | 114 2.5 The Vectors of Political Power | 133 2.5.1 Power Competence and Training | 136 2.5.2 Power Knowledge and Strategy | 148 2.5.3 Instruments of Power and Organization | 187 2.5.4 Mastering the Power Vectors: Homo Consultandus and Homo Consultans | 208 3 The Practice of Power | 211 3.1. The Power Chess Model | 214 3.2 Empower Model | 219 3.2.1 Political Logic | 219 3.2.2 Poltical Language | 228 3.2.3 Poltical Ethos | 234 3.2.4 Tools and Techniques of Empowering | 239 3.3 Condensing | 244 3.3.1 The Four-Phase Model | 244 3.3.2 Tools and Techniques of Condensing | 265 3.4 Influencing | 269 3.5 Global Governmental Relations | 274 3.6 Concluding Remarks | 281 4 Literature | 285 4.1 Specialist Literature | 285 4.2 Additional Sources | 305 Acknowledgements This book would not have been possible without the many years of inspirational exchange with Constanze Miller as well as with our friends, colleagues, clients, business partners and decision-makers from politics, business, civil society and academia. So many people contributed important input to Power and its Logic through discussions, lectures or publications that we are not able to mention them all by name. Nevertheless, special thanks are due to the staff at Miller & Meier Consulting and especially to Martin Alves for the illustrations and graphics. Since the publication of the original German edition, we have had ample opportunity to discuss our findings and, thus, improve upon the English translation. In this con- text, we have benefitted greatly from the suggestions and constructive criticism of Carsten Diercks, Gerd Kräh, Stéphane Beemelmans, Egon Flaig, Klemens Joos, Jakob Lempp, Peter Scholz, Dominique Reber, Erhard Weimann and Maria-Luise Schneider. Also, several insightful media reviews, most importantly by Thomas Sigmund and Isabell Trommer, have helped us refining our approach and meth- odology. Emily Faber, Peter Beyer, Ulrich Gamerdinger and Insaf Seeman have provided much-needed guidance for the book’s presentation to the US audience. Finally, we wish to express our sincere gratitude to Katherine Thomas for revising and fundamentally improving upon a first translation of the manuscript and to Ka- roline Tippelt-Wohl for her invaluable support and meticulous work during the copy-editing process. 0. Introduction 0.1 PREFACE Politics is about power and decision-making. This principle applies to all epochs, all systems and all cultures. There were and there are no power vacuums whatso- ever. Moreover, regardless of whether we consciously enter the political arena or are involuntarily thrown into it, we all inevitably become participants in a zero- sum game for power. Accordingly, it is all the more important to understand and to master the rules of this game. This is true for all of us. We are all stakeholders of one kind or another – whether as official decision-makers, citizens, journalists, lobbyists or political consultants. In recognition thereof, this book is aimed at providing readers with an honest, objective and comprehensive look at power and its logic. It is for the theorist and the practitioner alike. We welcome all interested readers, those lacking power and those wielding it. If the title has already attracted your attention, you are on the right trail. Our findings are based upon two decades of broad, in-depth experience in national and international political consultancy. Thereby, the focus of this book ranges from conceptual theories to concrete tools, all of which comprise the very foundation of our own proven Power Leadership Approach. Such a perspective is urgently required. Particularly now, as democracies struggle and strive amidst the challenges posed by the digital age, a fresh but his- torically rooted approach is necessary. Given the prevalence of untrustworthy in- formation, the importance of the ability – and the willingness – to