“Political power is a psychological relation between those who exercise it and those over whom it is exercised.”
Source: Politics Among Nations (1948), p. 27 (1954 edition).
Context: We must distinguish between military and political power.
Political power is a psychological relation between those who exercise it and those over whom it is exercised. It gives the former control over certain actions of the latter through the influence which the former exert over the latter's minds. That influence may be exerted through orders, threats, persuasion, or a combination of any of these.
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Hans Morgenthau 15
American political scientist 1904–1980Related quotes

No Place to Hide (2014)
Source: No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
Context: Democracy requires accountability and consent of the governed, which is only possible if citizens know what is being done in their name. [... ] Conversely, the presumption is that the government, with rare exceptions, will not know anything that law-abiding citizens are doing. [... ] Transparency is for those who carry out public duties and exercise public power. Privacy is for everyone else.
Penguin Books 2015 edition, page 209.
Mittel Energie auszuüben und nur ihn anzuordnen der Energie besitzt kann sie ausüben. Dieser direkte Anschluß der Energie und der Richtlinie bildet die grundlegende Wahrheit aller Politik und den Schlüssel zu aller Geschichte.
As quoted in The German Idea of Freedom : History of a Political Tradition (1972) by Leonard Krieger, p. 354

“To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.”
Entre Nous, p. 2
My Years As Prime Minister (2007)

C 16
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook C (1772-1773)