Hi, my name is Frida, and I’m an alcoholic a procrastinater.
For the past month I’ve had a dark cloud over my head. Somedays I’ve forgotten its existence, other days I’ve simply ignored it, but I can’t ignore it any longer, simply because it’s due in 3 days.
What is “due”, you might ask? Well, I’m glad that you did. (And if you didn’t; Shame on you!)
My assignment for the course in Public Politics and Administration. It counts for 30% of my final grade, and I have chosen to write about the theory of power having 3 different sides to it. This theory is made by the author of the curriculum-book; A norwegian professor in the studies of International Conflicts, a subfield in the glorious world of political science, which I happen to study. His name is Øyvind Østerud Oeyvind Oesterud Oyvind Osterud a typical norwegian name.
We got the assignment more than 3 weeks ago. I read the different alternatives of subjects to write about, chose one, read the alternatives over again and chose another one. All three alternatives looked easy enough, which is good. One of them was about the medias varying functions in a norwegian-type democracy. I really wanted to choose this one, as I went to a guest-lecture about it last year, with the norwegian genius politican of guess-which-party Sigurd Allern. Only problem being looking up all the details, which is a lot of work, and i decided to do the easier assignment instead.
One tiny problem though: I know nothing about Østerud’s theories on power. And the book is written in a confusing and irritating way. Or I’m just way too bored with school to find it interesting.
I have spent the past 3 weeks doing nothing. I have worked, sure. And I’ve been to meetings. I had a public letter in some local papers on the war in Afghanistan. I was also in an article on the new rules of absence in norwegian high-school. I turned 20 years old and celebrated for three days running. I hung out with friends. I went to a farewell-party for a friend and his wife going to Africa. I read a really good book. I started reading a kind of boring american-classic (The Catcher in the Rye, it gets better after page 50). I had a friend from Tromsø visiting for some days. I did everything I could to not work on the assignment. I procrastinated like crazy, and I became the queen of procrastination.
And now it all comes back to bite me in the ass!
This is what I can tell you about power and force:
It is the means to achieve goals. (The words of Østerud, and therefor the main-definition in my paper.)
It is when a subject (A) in some way affects the choices of an object (B).
It is an acting party’s ability to overcome opposition to achieve a wanted goal or result.
It is used in relations between human-beings.
There are different kinds of power and force:
There is physical or psychological force, often enforced by governments. Examples being fines for breaking the law, jail-time, etc. This is seen as morally and ethically o.k. (As long as the enforcer has jurisdiction.)
There is manipulation, in which the receiving part of the force is unaware of it. This is concidered bad and immoral.
There is persuasion, based on argumentation and this requires a competence in the field of discussion. Also on the good side, ethically. (Even when lying through your nose, which seems weird to me…)
Then there is the use of authority, which is a legitimate use of force. (Unless you’re an anarchist, according to text-book. I’m not much for anarchy, but I hate it when the authorities use force, so I guess I kind of am one anyways…)
This is what I can tell you about the three different sides of power and force, based on Østerud’s theory:
There is the actual process of election, the participation in the process: The people who vote, the people who run and the people who get elected.
There is the non-determined: The cases that don’t get attention, because of lack of interest, or because of being a too touchy subject, or perhaps because someone with power will gain on it not surfacing. (Corrupt politicians? Noooo way! What a cliché!)
And there is the creating of opinions in others. From an authority, the educational system, parents, government, etc.
Now I have to write this down, use examples to demonstrate force being used by the norwegian government, the state or the sovjets municipalities, and place them accordingly to the three different sides of power and force.
Not too hard, you might say?
Well, no. Writing a two page-essay on this wouldn’t be hard. But I have to fill 5-FIVE-V-||||| pages of this shit. And I have to find primary sources, secondary sources and learn how to use them in an essay. And I have to do this in three days.
And in these three days I also have 2 concerts I want to attend, 3 parties people expect me to come to (and that I really want to go to!), a meeting and a sleep-deprived state that needs to be mended. See my problem now?
Funny side-note to this submission: While writing it in an attempt to continue my procrastination I learnt more about the subject than I did in the two hours prior to it, when I actually tried working on it. Irony, in a good way, and I think I have the first page layed out in my mind.
Song to fit this blogpost: Magpie Eggs-Moddi (A norwegian, young artist worth checking out!)
Untill next time:
Live long, and procrastinate!
Frida
The Queen of all ye procrastinaters
