Power
figuring out who has it and how to influence them
Selectorate Theory
- Most research organizations aren't democracies
- Faculty and students don't elect the university president
- [Bueno2022] explores how dictators stay in power
- Nominal selectorate: those who have the right to have a say
- Real selectorate: those who actually cast a vote
- Winning coalition: those whose votes produce victory
- Humorous but serious advice:
- The smaller the winning coalition, the fewer people the dictator needs to satisfy to remain in control.
- The larger the selectorate, the easier it is to replace dissenters.
- Extract as much wealth as you can without provoking rebellion or recession.
- Give your essential supporters just enough rewards to keep them loyal.
- Do not reward your supporters too well or they will become a threat.
Exercise
- Who makes funding and work allocation decisions in your institution in theory?
- Who makes those decisions in practice?
Power Mapping
- Graphical tool to identify people to target and how to reach them
- Steps:
- Identify the (specific) people who can actually make the change you want.
- Plot where (you believe) they stand on the issue (two axes).
- Add people who can directly influence the people you identified in step 1.
- Repeat step 3 for the people you just added until you are part of the diagram.
Exercise
- Pick a small but desirable change in your local environment.
- In a group, create a power map.