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Power can be defined, and exhibited in many different ways. It is one of the central concepts in the academic discipline of political science. Political scientist Harold D. Lasswell and David Easton had different views regarding power as a central organizing concept in political science. Lasswell conceived the whole subject matter of political science to be a struggle for power. He believed that power stood alone at the heart of political research, and that the …

…help us to understand how social policy is formed and executed. Both Lasswell and Easton believed that power was an essential part of political science. Lasswell followed more of an elitist theory, and conceived the whole subject matter of political science to be the struggle for power. Easton on the other hand viewed political science as the study of the authoritative allocation of values as it is influenced by the distribution and use of power.