Power

This chapter presents the book’s theoretical framework, laying the conceptual groundwork for understanding power as a dynamic interplay of violence, lies, and deception. It critically engages with power theories that attempt to separate violence from power, challenging them. The main argument is that violence is often central to power, even in democratic and bureaucratic contexts. This chapter then turns to deception, drawing on evolutionary biology, psychology, and social theory to distinguish between lying, deception, and self-deception, showing their role in social and political domination. This chapter introduces key concepts such as structural power, structural violence, and structural deception, situating them within the modern state and institutional systems. It develops an original typology of deception – including terms like deception by omission, misrepresentation of intent, and coded deception – used throughout the book’s case studies. In doing so, this chapter establishes the analytical tools and theoretical framing necessary for rethinking power not merely as violence or consent, but as a historically embedded system that conceals domination through strategic and structural deception.