Why new mayor will have to use 'soft power' if they want success
BRISTOL'S elected mayor will have to make use of "soft power" if they want to make the new post a success, according to a leading political expert.
Soft power – the art of using your influence to get people to do things without forcing them – will be a major weapon in the elected mayor's armoury because they will not be able to tell private companies, health trusts and organisations outside the Council House what to do.
Dr David Sweeting, a lecturer in urban studies at Bristol University, said: "Soft power is something they will have to use if they want to be successful.
"A leader of a council has got some hard power, because in theory, they can instruct people within the council what to do.
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"But soft power is more about getting people to co-operate, making deals happen – acting as a facilitator.
"Soft power probably has more to do with relationships outside the Council House because if the elected mayor wants to do something about transport, for example, they can line up the various interested parties such as Government officials, the transport company and so on to try to get something sorted out but they will not have any power to tell the transport company what to do."
He said an elected mayor was more likely to draw on soft power because their term of office will be four years which will give them a chance to develop longer term relationships with the city's most powerful and influential people.
He said: "Soft power is not exclusive to elected mayors because the former leader Barbara Janke would probably say she developed these relationships during her years in office."
He said independent candidates could argue that they were more likely to use soft power because they could speak as "Mr Bristol" without any political ties.
But party candidates could equally argue that they would have much closer links with central Government.
Dr Sweeting said: "Ken Livingstone was initially elected as an independent but he chose to go back into the Labour Party which perhaps says something about being a party politician.
Equally, there were very successful elected mayors such as Stuart Drummond in Hartlepool, who were independent.
Soft power is a concept which was first coined by Joseph Nye of Harvard University in his book, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power which was published in 1990.
Comments
by Brizz_Tony
Thursday, October 04 2012, 10:06PM
“Corrupbstand,
No-one likes a barrack room accountant.”
by DavidSBish
Thursday, October 04 2012, 9:53PM
“It is clear, from the various comments and wish lists published in the Post from the good citizens of Bristol in respect of what they want from the new Mayor, that no one has a clear idea of what his/her remit will be.
We appear to be expecting a superhuman, who can, at a stroke, solve all our transport problems,build a new arena, and guarantee that everyone will be paid a decent wage. All this and more for around £40k pa!
I believe that the Post could do us all favour by publishing exactly what remit this person will have, and how the position will relate to our numerous paid Councillors, the Leader, and Chief Executive. Without this basic information it will be impossible for any citizen to make a valid judgement,and they will all revert to voting to the candidate representing the Party they have traditionally supported, and we all know what that will mean.”
by corruptbstard
Thursday, October 04 2012, 6:01PM
“Hi Bris28
Good question
ok first, I don't pretend to know all the answers. I do know, from what I have read that the concept of an unconditional basic income makes sense, and has alot of potential.
before going into specifics, lets look at your question?
where does the funding come from to do this?
i.e where do the resources come from to do this?
is there enough funding to do this?
ie is there enough resources to do this?
I say yes there are.
its not about money, money is just a method to redistribute those resources.
the unconditional basic income is also a method to redistribute those resources.
however i have to explain it in terms people understand and show how it can be done with todays monetarty system and thats what im trying to do.
the fact remains though that, if there are enough resources, food, clothing, shelter, heating etc to meet everyones basic needs, then the unconditional basic income (UBI), with all the benefits/advantages it has, is possible. if our current economic system cany cope/allow that to happen, then that doesnt in any way negate the concept of the UBI, its a failed system thats useless to us all.
right now to the specifics.......
1. £5 creating £50 of turnover and collecting £5 in tax
a. thats a way of showing how a tax on spending works. its exactly the same as VAT works. VAT is a tax on spending (albeit on a lesser range of goods)
But the real issue is money creation full stop
b. there is currently only 3% of cash in our current system that actually exists as cash money. the rest is figures on a screen. 97% of our money doesnt exist, because its been created the same way. its also why if everyone went to take their cash out of the bank as cash, there would be run on the banks, and the whole thing would crash around our ears, like the proverbial deck of cards. lets be honest, thats already happening but our "leaders" are busy runing around like idiots screaming "its not happening, its not happening......" and picking up 1 card, but as they do 10 more fall to the floor.
c. answer this.
if i could take ALL the money in existance and give it all to you as a loan (lets say its £2000 trillion) and ask you to pay interest on it at 5%. when i ask for the money back. you can give me the £2000 Trillion. BUT WHERE DOES THE £100 TRILLION YOU OWE ME IN INTEREST COME FROM? HOW IS IT CREATED? in our current system, the only way to get the money to pay the interest is to get another loan....and so the spiral of debt continues
d. Fractional Reserve Lending is a way the banks "lend" money into the system, Again creating it from nothing. They only need to keep a "fraction" of any money you deposit in the bank as cash, they can lend the rest out. This effectively creates new money from nothing as well.
e. Quantative Easing is actually "printing money from nothing"
my point being that money is created in many ways, ways we rarely think about, because most of us are taking it all blindly and for granted.it is already and often "magiced up from thin air".
We live in unprecidented times. We need to come up with completely different solutions and in order to do that we have to break through our deluded beliefs about money and ask the simple questions about what money really is, how it really works.
like i said i dont have all the answers, i do have alot of questions, but I am at least offering concrete specific solutions/ideas as well. not the same old vague aims and tired old solutions, that clearly havent worked
i am very interested in talking and discussing all this with people like yourself though, who can highlight the potential pitfalls, so thanks for the question
cheers
Eric”
by bris28
Thursday, October 04 2012, 2:10PM
“What do the Lord Mayor wannabes have to say about the news from BCC that I heard on BBC Radio Bristol about the latest appalling state of finances at College Green. Perhaps the Post should be asking each prospective candidate (they are propsective until they hand in nomination papers and deposit).
Will Mr. Mutch who was given the best part of a page in Weds paper still be giving us all £15,000? I can't wait to hear his reply. I don't very much if he'll give us one”