Power affects people in a variety of ways. The important point about power is that it happens within a context, which means power is changing under the specific circumstances of relations and state of confrontation. There are different theories with regards to explaining how power acts in society. Covert Power is a theory which asserts that power taking place ‘by exclusion issues from discussion in decision making’[1]. This theory is more likely to reflect non-physical pressures while another theory of ‘Overt Power’ describes ‘power that allows someone to directly enforce their preferences on another’[2].
In the TED Talk’s video of ‘how I stopped the Taliban from shutting down my school’[3] which was delivered by Sakena Yacoobi, she explains in an anecdotal narration that how she imposed her covert power on those hardliners Taliban to let her continue with educating Afghan women in northern Kabul. On her way to training fields she was stopped by armed men and told ‘We know where you are going […] you train women, you teach them and also you give them an opportunity to have a job. You build their skills. How about us?’[4]. Here Sakena defeats the overt power of the Taliban by imposing her covert power on them, as she has manipulated the Taliban by providing them an opportunity. Sakena trains the Taliban by which they finally become her guide to those villages and even bodyguards. In the very first days of establishing a primary literacy course in the refugee camp, Sakena examines another sort of power which was more seductive for the Mullah. Obviously, people who are living in a war-torn country are in the extreme situation lacking shelter, food, and safety. People are always keen to get a job, but while living in a refugee camp, it is more implausible to face a woman providing a job to a Mullah. Through offering the job, Sakena changes the nature of an observable conflict by which she can exercise her power on the Mullah. Later when the Taliban attack on her school, she denies of running any school, instead she insists ‘all learning Koran, […] so they can be a good wife, and they can obey their husband’[5]. ‘In fact, she is ‘influencing, shaping or determining’[6] the Taliban’s very first wants. Here the power happens with a completely different measurement which is neither covert nor overt; this is called Luke’s Third Dimension power. Although power exists in all relationships, the circumstances are not always the same, that is why power can be reflected through various theories.
[1] Lucas Walsh, “Power in Contemporary Society” in Sociologic: Analysing Everyday Life and Culture, ed James Arvanitakis. Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press, 2016. 144.