South Sudan: The Illusion Around Power
By Bul Deng Yol, Juba, South Sudan
Thursday, August 1, 2019 (PW) — The entertainment world of WWE has more than just the entertainment beat to offer. Much is in the play. Observation is that every time the company is headlining its next big show, new rivalries are created. Created not by the champions and sometimes not by management, but by those who would want an opportunity to takeover championship.
Funny enough, when the management turned a blind eye on a competitor and warrant not the match, the superstar will not shut his or her mind but instead, look for avenues to push for a chance, since they have made it a culture to lives a life of possibilities and banging the door in superstar’s face is never the end. Rather, the superstar will play into the mind of the authority or the champion, that later culminate into fixing a match. Occasionally, it may be by way-laying the opponent and inflicting harm whenever possible or trashing the champion.
The most captivating part ensues after official match fixing, where an opponent may resort to mind games. This takes the form of hauling abuses, asking your friends to conspire against your opponent if the chance prevails, appearing in the middle of ongoing game, diverting attention or ambushing the champion either in the locker room, in the ring or on the ring side. This psychological warfare weakens or build dreadful image of oneself before the day of contest.
In life context, WWE superstars portray how a jealous dude would envy to take the seat of a successful person. Even when one has not worked for it. This observations have a bearing on nothing other than POWER. What then is POWER? Power is the ability to influence, coerce or control. But then how does that power come into being or where does one drives power from?
Casting my net into the supreme law. The Constitution of most countries, if not all, attempts to provide that “All powers are drives from the Constitution” and it further provides that “Power belong to the people”. These clauses are affected by the exercise of the rights such as right to vote. Moreover, to prove that power belongs to people and not a mere provision, locals have a mechanism entrenched in law on how to call back under-performing leaders. That is law and how it ought to be.
However, the perspective of how “power ought to be” is not the applicable reality but rather, we are faced by direct reality of “what it is” most of the time, simply because the hypocritical world is proving to be elusive. Perhaps the anti-thesis to the “people power” is legitimize in situation where power is usurped not in a manner stipulated in the Constitution. Kelsen has it that if the revolution is successful, the plotters become the law and centre of power shifts, discarding the Constitution.
Linking it further, Thomas Hobbes, as he advanced Social Contract theory in the context of leviathian, provided that the ruler can do as he desires and in total disregard of the subjects. Power here, is manifested as a one way traffic where the ruled pay respect to the ruler and never in return. The sorry state where the leader is not bind by agreement.
Hobbesian’s position is well captured in also another controversial political masterpiece by Machiavelli in his book “The Prince”, where he opined that a leader is best positioned if he is feared by his subjects rather than being love. If all the instruments of power are put into use and any disgruntle eliminated, majority will take a leap from it and fear will then create a sycophantic followering of the command.
In the contemporary world, everyone is looking up to a certain point as center of power. The ordinary understanding of power dependency cycle is where citizens are confronted by challenges beyond their capacity. It necessitates them to seek intervention from more powerful body. The very institution they surrendered all their powers to, in exchange of services. But still, those institutions are sometimes captured by dark forces (cartels) whose untamed powers coerce elected leaders into abusing power.
Surprisingly, the above dark forces are not only met at state level but also inter-states, continental and universal level. There are those mighty states or organisations that bully weaker states to tune into their dancing taste. Which water down the illusion that state is sovereign and can run her affairs without interference. This is clearly brought out by regional organizations such are AU, EU and TRIOKA which are not commanding equal powers in matters involving their states or when non-interference policy is being observe.
If my judgment saves me well, the like of EU and TROIKA portrays a powerful voice than the toothless AU. A nation such as USA has a way of asking other nations to do as she wishes and not as that country want. As if that is not enough, at extreme, we witnessed how terror organizations such as Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, ISIL and any rebel movement have their own ways of welding power.
In a nutshell, the world is not “what it ought to be” but “what it is”. The cult utterence of “you don’t have powers to do this and that” is a farce. If you have the enforcing means, you owns power. Simple! Our laws may spells out where the centre of power is, but the practice on the ground is far from just meeting the eyes. in other words, power is in the hand of he who possess it and uses it as he wishes.
To conclude, Niccole Machiavelli opined that “how we lives is so different from how we ought to live, that he who studies what ought to be done rather than that is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.” Hence, POWER is POWER as brought out in the famous Series of “The Game Of Throne”.
You can reach the author, Bul Deng Yol, via his email address: Bul Dit <buldit75@gmail.com>
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