PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Power, Authority & Legitimacy
Explain Macpherson’s view on power.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 Power located in liberalism’s own foundations, not command over others → possessive individualism as starting point R2 Individual as self-owner → freedom tied to property → limited liberal freedom, sets up the argument
Body flow
Possessive individualism (self-ownership, freedom = property, state guards property/market). extractive power (control of others’ productive capacities; legitimised by possessive individualism; capitalist-market inequality; owners command non-owners) → developmental power (higher human capacities; ethical, not descriptive; needs welfare; opposes extractive) → real democracy must centre self-development + cut extractive power → but liberal capitalist democracies let the powerful convert extractive into their own developmental power
Counter-view
Nancy Fraser → wealth inequality + social hierarchy + historical legacies shape power and development (checks Macpherson’'s optimism)
Conclusion routes
R1 Power redefined: from control over others → conditions for human self-development R2 Genuine democracy = maximising developmental power, minimising extractive power
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
