Loktionov, M. V. Modernistic and Post-Modernistic Understanding of Power

Abstract: The subject under review of the present article is the power as a management resource and its modernistic and post-modernistic definitions. The author of the article views the power not as itself or a category of its own but rather as a certain resource which is used to govern the state and which we try to view from the point of view of methodology used in researches of power and its being part of the management processes. The author also views the efficient use of power firstly as a rational process during which cause-and-effect connections and relations are predicted and traced and secondly as a process where a resource (power in our case) is used to the best advantage according to the ‘contribution-return’ criterion. The research is based on Jacques Derrida’s approach stating that the dynamics between centralization and decentralization of power are also binary and cyclic. The main conclusion made by the researcher is that the general solutions made regarding the ‘optimal’ balance between centralization and autonomy as well as the term ‘optimality’ in the state management will be only theoretical while practical solutions should be considered only temporary.

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