POLITICAL POWER AS VARIABLE
The views that power derives primarily from the capacity to wield violence and that the power of the rulers is monolithic and relatively permanent are not correct. Power relationships are not fixed and unchangeable. Instead, the power capacities of the State and other institutions of the society are variable and derived from the interplay of
1. the varying degrees of power wielded by the respective groups in the society;
2. the degree to which these various groups have mobilized their power potential into effective power;
3. the degree to which the social, economic, and political institutions of the State and other powerful institutions are flexible and responsive to the will of the various sections of the population.