Presently, one of the more active conflict zones is the North West of Pakistan, where extremist groups are responsible for staging sectarian attacks.

Brian Koontz, power has the “capacity” to corrupt, as it has the “capacity” to correct. When power is exercised in any social relation, it necessarily creates a power structure even if its parameters may not be well defined.

No – power simply requires different behavioral and structural choices.

For example, if you become responsible for feeding 100 people your behavior will by necessity change – you must do what it takes to feed 100 people instead of “feeding my family”.

Or, another example, if one becomes president of the United States one becomes responsible for the well being of the campaign donors. One must do what it takes to benefit them.

Structures of power and positions within structures of power *create* monsters – a CEO for example *must* maximize profits, regardless of the consequences. Does power corrupt the CEO? Of course not – the CEO merely has behavioral changes brought on by his new structural (political) position.

This can occur entirely in the mind – one’s mind can engage in a line of thought that then requires one to behave in an unusual manner – Hitler is a common example. Power didn’t corrupt Hitler – Hitler’s *ideas* and *desires* “corrupted” Hitler and he then sought the power to allow his ideas to become real.

When does a CEO become corrupt? Perhaps it’s during childhood when the TV or maybe his own family tells him the definition of success – accumulating wealth.

Power is a means to an end. Without power one can’t wage wars, control the fates of millions of lives, and “play God”. Without new power one is just like one currently is.

“Power corrupts” is ridiculously naive. The motivations for seeking power can be good or bad, but that choice is always made prior to the attainment of power. With that power attained the desired behavior becomes *enabled*, and the person then revels in finally being able to achieve the things he’d been wanting.

Since noble forms of power are rarely discussed, I’ll mention one briefly – friendship. Friends have power over each other that normal people don’t have. Friends use their power to benefit each other, to improve each other’s lives. Friends understand that power is exciting and without it life would be dismal and hopeless.