powerof its bearer. The accumulation of power constitutes an effective potency,
which can benefit an individual or group in an impersonal or personal
way. In the final analysis for van der Leeuw, power is the essence of
things and humans. Because of its dynamic nature, it tends to expand and
deepen into a universal force.
Mircea Eliade (1907–1986), a Romanian historian of religion, states
that power is equivalent to being, and it conquers non-being and makes
life possible within the context of a religious way of life. It is power that
renders possible the being of things – animate and inanimate – and deter-
mines the structure of things. Power is something in which humans can
participate and share with others. Power is meaningful and gives meaning
to life. In fact, power challenges us to find our center of being, helping a
person become master of his/her world. Power is, however, ambivalent
because it can be both creative and destructive. The encounter with power
demands care, if one is not to be overwhelmed and overawed by it.
In sharp contrast to the concept of power within the theories of van der
Leeuw and Eliade, a more recent conception is offered by Michel
Foucault (1926–1984), a poststructuralist thinker, who disputes their
essentialist grasp of the concept and emphasizes that power is a relation
between forces. A force is not singular because it always exists in relation
to other forces and possesses no other subject or object than itself.
Foucualt suggests that power is something that circulates over a wide
area, implying that power is a complex web of interconnections, never
localized in a particular place, and cannot become the possession of any
single person. Power is also multi-directional because it operates both
from the top down and from the bottom up, although Foucault is more
interested in the ascending nature of power.
Despite the wide circulation of power and its integration into the fabric
of a society, it only exists when it is put into action. The exercise of power,
a form of action, is a way that certain actions modify other actions. Foucault
defines power in a non-confrontational and non-adversarial way, while still
recognizing that a power relationship involves potentially a strategy of
struggle. An important relationship for Foucault exists between power and
knowledge in the sense that power produces knowledge and knowledge is
power, which suggests that they are integrated and create each other.
In addition to these three theorists, it can be added that power pos-
sesses a drive, impulse, or tendency, which can be associated with its
ability to empower. This suggests that power generates, gives, increases,
and enhances itself. This inner dynamic drive of power is often mani-
fested as degrees of power that can only be measured when one encoun-
ters it, but one can never be certain in one’s final calculations because
power always remains ultimately mysterious and elusive. Its dynamic