power structure
Who controls whom
A power structure is the hierarchy of authority and influence within an organization, institution, or society—who has control, who reports to whom, and how decisions get made.
The term often carries critical undertones, implying entrenched interests resistant to change: The protesters aimed to dismantle the existing power structure.
It can describe formal arrangements or informal networks of influence that operate behind official channels.
Authority over a state
- corporationLegally separate business entity
- militaryArmed forces collectively
- churchPlace of Christian worship
- judiciaryLaw-interpreting government branch
parliament · cabinet · board · committee · administration · regime · establishment · ruling class
Social dominance arrangement
- chain of commandFormal authority hierarchy
- rankPosition in hierarchy
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
- echelonsLevels within a hierarchy
dominance · authority · bureaucracy · oligarchy · patriarchy · matriarchy · feudalism · caste
government
Authority over a state
- corporationLegally separate business entity
- militaryArmed forces collectively
- churchPlace of Christian worship
judiciary · parliament · cabinet · board · committee · administration · regime · establishment · ruling class · deep state
pecking order
Social dominance arrangement
- chain of commandFormal authority hierarchy
- rankPosition in hierarchy
- stratificationDivision into distinct levels
echelons · dominance · authority · bureaucracy · oligarchy · patriarchy · matriarchy · feudalism · caste · class
- hierarchyrank, ranked, authority, command, tiered
- pecking orderpecking order, alpha, beta, omega, dominant
- hierarchiestier, tiers, level, levels, rank
- social hierarchycaste system, caste, class, class system, ranks
- secret societiesFreemasons, Illuminati, secret society, secret societies, Masons
- central controlnerve center, control center, command center, headquarters, hub
power structureegalitarianism
Philosophy of universal equality
equality · classless society · collective · commune · leaderlessness
power structureanarchy
Disorder from absent authority
power vacuum · chaos · disorder · lawlessness · failed state
power structuregrassroots movement
Citizen-led collective action campaign
popular sovereignty · direct democracy · participatory democracy · popular uprising · mass movement
power, powerful, structure, empower, powerless, powers, structured, powerfully, structural