Hi Folks, Just for the purpose of this article, I refer to the notion of Power here as "degree of popular support" and the "ability to maintain stability and cope with opposition", and the notion of Politics as the "ability to mobilize". This is only to limit my scope of analysis. Hypothetically, I wish to suggest a three-factor relationship between the two components: 1) a strong Power base and a weak Poiltical base; 2) a weak Power base and a strong Political base; 3) a strong Power base and a strong Political base. Arbitrarily, I conclude that no society exists which could be categorized as having a weak Power base and a weak Political base. My supposition is to propose that before any viable, rewarding and long lasting stability and security is established, power and politics have to be at par, hence the third-factor connection. In what follows, I will try to visualize to dissect an imaginary society that may exhibit features of any one of the forementioned propositions. I leave to the reader for a further indepth analysis on each one of them. A strong Power base and a weak Political base. To chart the ever turbulent and shaky course of time into the future, it is always prudent to retrospect. The rationale, amongst other facts, is to enable one to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. I make a particular reference here, therefore, for our studies, to the forces that ousted the late ex-President Marcos from power in the Philippines. It was basically "peoples' power". Marcos had a very repressive regime but couldn't survive the social mobilization activism of the citizens. In Mecca, about 1400 years ago, the political prowess of Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W) ultimately defeated the all too entrenched power base of his infidel brothers and sisters. The declared greatest military power in history couldn't in the 1960s overwhelm the collective will of a small post-colonial Asian nation that was seeking its autonomy. A conflictual relation between power and poiltics therefore reveals that, as defined in this context, victory is always for the latter. What society needs,therefore, is to facilitate to create a situation that will enhance a balanced interactive relationship between the two for stability, peace, progress and development. A pradigm shift seems to have occured that suggests that the fundamental foundations of political philosophy requires that institutions must accommodate in a prosperous way to satisfy certain inherent and universal human needs. A persons ontological needs of identity, association, free will and developmental needs can never ever be frustrated. A weak Power base and a strong Political base. Again, a society built on such pillars can only lose vitality in the agony of infirmity, feebleness, unprogressiveness and stagnation. The ease with which Africans and Asians were subjected to colonial domination speaks about thier lack of poiltical maturity. Imagine, if it were not for the firm political structure and political resoluteness and astuteness of America and President Clinton respectively, Monicagate would have spiralled USA into abysmal oblivion, regardless of Bill's record level popularity rate. One thing that greased the American shock absorber at this particular time, could have been a mixture of a strong Power and Political bases. It is slightly different with the plight of a billion Muslims in the world today. One voice, one identity, one religion and one big following but lack of a genuine power base denies them the opportunity to articulate their ideals and aspirations. Turkey, at the early part of this century, witnessed the eradication of the last Islamic State on the World Map as a result of a weak power base. The bottomline is, a large following or the ability to mobilize a large following, is just not enough to supervise any progress, development and even stability. A strong Power base and a strong Political base. This is what the components of the structures of what may constitute my ideal type of society. The overall thrust of the argument of the article is that, those in power should be conscious of needs arising from the forces of society; should be aware of the glaring fact that strengthening of state apparatus without a concomitant empowering of the masses can only invite retrogression, humiliation, instability, frailty and disillusion; that, on the other hand, banking on only a large following with a fragile power base is as good as being lost in the middle of the desert not knowing which direction to follow. High time we woke up and looked at the coffee rather than copying blindly and not understanding the intricacies of similarities and differences. God blesses us all. Cheer Alieu ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------