Power is multi-dimensional. Teasing out the different expressions of power is useful for analytic purposes, and for shaping organizing strategies that will transform current power relations. As we examine these faces of power, we also want to avoid treating them as separate categories. We want to emphasize that they are dynamic and interrelated; seperable but not separate.

In brief, the three faces of power are:
1) Organizing people and resources for direct political involvement in visible decisionmaking arenas;
2) Building durable, long-term political infrastructure: networks of organizations that are aligned around shared goals, who can shape political agendas;
3) Making meaning on the terrain of ideology and worldview.

This brief provides an in-depth analysis of these three faces, and how we can use them to build a more powerful and sustained popular-democratic alliance of diverse constituencies and sectors.

Author/Publisher: Grassroots Policy Project