The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (215 page)
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power élite
Term used by C. Wright Mills in his 1956 study of the same name to refer to the ‘overlapping cliques’ at the helms of the chief political, economic, and military institutions in modern society. Mills argued that these élites share both membership and a set of common interests, and thus that the principal policy decisions for which they are responsible serve common goals.
SW
SW
power index
Any attempt to measure the power of a voting bloc in terms of the likelihood that it will be the swing voter, able to decide whether a proposition wins or loses. The first formal power index was proposed by Lionel Penrose in 1946 (although the idea was foreshadowed by the anti-
Federalist
Luther Martin in 1787). The best-known index is the
Shapley-Shubik index
. Unfortunately, different indices have different values in the same situation. Some critics deny that they have any meaning at all; supporters of the concept have been trying to produce a more general index, but none has caught on.
Federalist
Luther Martin in 1787). The best-known index is the
Shapley-Shubik index
. Unfortunately, different indices have different values in the same situation. Some critics deny that they have any meaning at all; supporters of the concept have been trying to produce a more general index, but none has caught on.
Prague spring
The period of Czechoslovakian politics following Alexander Dubcek's arrival as Party leader in January 1968, and ending with the Soviet invasion in August, during which reformist elements within the ruling Communist Party relaxed censorship restrictions, encouraged the formation of independent pressure groups, and attempted to gain some degree of national autonomy over foreign policy.
SW
SW
Prebisch , Raúl
(1901–86)
Working as an economist for the Argentine government, Raúl Prebisch experienced directly the catastrophic impact of the great depression of the 1930s on what had long been a prosperous economy and a constitutional state. Generalizing from this, he reasoned that so long as industrialized states were able to react to adverse conditions with mercantilist policies, as the United States and Europe had done in the 1930s, it was folly for less powerful states to plump for the gains from
free trade
available to them as producers of primary commodities. Instead, he urged them to industrialize, however costly in the short run. Prebisch argued that the terms of trade were bound to move in the long run against producers of primary products because demand for their exports was bound to grow more slowly than for the manufactures they needed to import. Moreover any gains from improved productivity in agricultural production and extractive industry would be drained to the industrial economies by the superior bargaining power of their monopolistic labour unions and firms.
The political significance of Prebisch lies much less in the quality of his thought than in its reception. As he rose through the UN Commission for Latin America to become founding Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1964, his proposed solutions to the dilemma of primary producers won widespread official acceptance, making him a much more powerful moulder of Third World policies than the neo-Marxist dependency school with whom he is often mistakenly associated. UNCTAD itself became, during the North-South dialogue of the 1970s, the vehicle for his programme, advocating the stabilization of international commodity markets, continued import- substituting industrialization and regional co-operation in the Third World, and the retraction of illiberal controls on market access for agricultural goods and textiles imposed by the advanced industrial economies.
CJ
Working as an economist for the Argentine government, Raúl Prebisch experienced directly the catastrophic impact of the great depression of the 1930s on what had long been a prosperous economy and a constitutional state. Generalizing from this, he reasoned that so long as industrialized states were able to react to adverse conditions with mercantilist policies, as the United States and Europe had done in the 1930s, it was folly for less powerful states to plump for the gains from
free trade
available to them as producers of primary commodities. Instead, he urged them to industrialize, however costly in the short run. Prebisch argued that the terms of trade were bound to move in the long run against producers of primary products because demand for their exports was bound to grow more slowly than for the manufactures they needed to import. Moreover any gains from improved productivity in agricultural production and extractive industry would be drained to the industrial economies by the superior bargaining power of their monopolistic labour unions and firms.
The political significance of Prebisch lies much less in the quality of his thought than in its reception. As he rose through the UN Commission for Latin America to become founding Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1964, his proposed solutions to the dilemma of primary producers won widespread official acceptance, making him a much more powerful moulder of Third World policies than the neo-Marxist dependency school with whom he is often mistakenly associated. UNCTAD itself became, during the North-South dialogue of the 1970s, the vehicle for his programme, advocating the stabilization of international commodity markets, continued import- substituting industrialization and regional co-operation in the Third World, and the retraction of illiberal controls on market access for agricultural goods and textiles imposed by the advanced industrial economies.
CJ
prefect
The principal local representative of the French state and member of an élite administrative corps ( see
Grandes écoles
). Following the decentralization reforms implemented by the Socialists in March 1982, the prefect is no longer chief executive of the region or department, the administrative and financial powers having been transferred to local assemblies and their elected chairmen. A change of name to Commissioner of the Republic was reversed by the right-wing government in 1986. Prefects are still responsible for co-ordination of regional planning and for supervision of the public services and any overall loss of power is probably more apparent than real. They were always constrained by local pressures, liable to frequent transfer and subject to conflicting demands from centre and periphery. Their powers are now better defined and they enjoy more job security.
IC
Grandes écoles
). Following the decentralization reforms implemented by the Socialists in March 1982, the prefect is no longer chief executive of the region or department, the administrative and financial powers having been transferred to local assemblies and their elected chairmen. A change of name to Commissioner of the Republic was reversed by the right-wing government in 1986. Prefects are still responsible for co-ordination of regional planning and for supervision of the public services and any overall loss of power is probably more apparent than real. They were always constrained by local pressures, liable to frequent transfer and subject to conflicting demands from centre and periphery. Their powers are now better defined and they enjoy more job security.
IC
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