With great power comes great responsibility.

‘Power’, an undying inner urge in humans is a fact of life, as real as life itself. Power to dominate, power to subdue others. Perhaps it is the consequence or the antecedent of itself. Put to a noble use, it can make ‘life divine’ as that of Mother Teresa or Gandhiji; on the other hand, if fallen on unworthy, it can lead to Armageddon like the Jewish Holocaust. This is the ‘conundrum of power’.
Lord Acton once asserted, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. So true are these words even today. Humans ‘tamed the ocean’ with the power of renaissance and Vasco da Gama reached the shores of Calicut, which ensued 400 years of Indian slavery. Humans wanted to step on the moon and armed with Cold War-era USA-USSR competition technology. Neil Armstrong did indeed take a small step on the moon, and today we have a space debris problem worsening into space wars. That’s the ‘power’ – in absolute terms.
As all anti-Hegelians will utter – every absolute needs to be qualified. Therefore, ‘power’ needs to be qualified. What can save power from killing itself is ‘power imbued with a sense of responsibility’. In quantitative terms, with great power will come great responsibility.
Our mythological tales are replete with the lessons of this duality between power and responsibility. Duryodhana (a Kaurava) once told Krishna, “I know dharma (virtue) but it fails to inspire me, I know adharma too and I fail to withdraw from it”. The horrors of Mahabharata did not determine who ‘won’, rather ‘who was left’. A parallel of misuse of power can be seen in the manifestation of two world wars fought by colonial powers to preserve hegemony over the conquered lands in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They won indeed, and humanity lost! Colonial power unleashed greed, leading to such economic drain (as Dadabhai Naoroji puts it), even today we can’t recuperate. This was power without responsibility.
On the contrary, on the eve of 1688, the Glorious – bloodless revolution in England saw King James II dethroned, to be replaced with his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. This was power, and what they did will be written in golden letters. It was their responsibility to grant the “Bill of Rights” to people, giving more power to parliament and modern-era democracy was born; an ever-evolving political system.
This was power with responsibility yielding exemplary fruits.
The “Commonwealth” of Platonic republic was to consist of a philosopher-king whose attribute was wisdom to ensure that power was exercised judiciously. But the totalitarian regimes of today are belittling such hopes. The fate of North Korea under Kim Jong-un; Germany under Hitler present the desert of hopes when power falls into wrong hands; those who suffer most are the weakest and most vulnerable.
Intellectuals of our times are demanding equal rights for women in all spheres of life. Gone are the days when ‘power’ shrouded in ‘patriarchy’ belonged solely to men; today women are demanding equality. From demanding voting rights to breaking the glass ceiling, the powerful 50% of the population will ensure that the other powerful ‘half’ of men live in harmony. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “A bird with one wing cannot fly”. It’s the power of harmony distributed equally that will ensure responsibility. It is reflected in women’s representation in Bihar’s legislature and the ensuing ban on liquor; a realm of political power ensuring responsibility.
In this context, it becomes pertinent to see how well humanity has fared when given powers to ensure economic rights. The “Iron Curtain” of Winston Churchill might have lifted from Europe but it lives on in India. An Oxfam report from 2018 suggests that the top 1% saw a 75% increase in their wealth in a year in India. The agony of economic inequality is due to the irresponsible capitalist structure and accumulation of wealth in the hands of economic powers; in the words of Karl Marx. Here again, our powers corrupted our economic morality.
Furthermore, people choose their leaders for their welfare in return; this was the social contract elucidated by Rousseau. But huge regional disparities reflect how the misuse of democratically given power has led to misery. Land reforms in the communist regime of Kerala were a success, but Bihar, entangled in the tentacles of powerful zamindars, couldn’t benefit from it. The result of this difference today is that 80% of homicides reported in Bihar are due to land disputes; that’s power exercised irresponsibly.
Not only in regions but also in families, the patriarchal construction of Indian society burned widows alive (sati), killed baby girls (infanticide), and aborted female fetuses (foeticide). This shows the medieval Shakespearean picture of the plight of women, “Frailty! thy name is woman” (Hamlet). But this power can be used responsibly; in the words of Barack Obama, “men are responsible for and should be leaders of the feminist movement”. Had we emphasized such family and societal structures earlier, our advancements would have come sooner. This is the strength of responsible power.
Nevertheless, our technological hegemony is all-pervading and echoing throughout the planet. An irresponsible act was the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, claiming millions of lives. Gandhiji said “science without humanity is a deadly sin because of its misuse”. The ‘demons within man’ crave this technological power to subdue humanity itself. For this reason, it becomes crucial that we exercise our technological power responsibly.
This technological colonialism has devastated the environment as well. The hunger for ‘conquest of nature’ by exploiting resources – forests, marine life, land, and biological resources – has imbalanced the equilibrium. On one hand, we have droughts; on the other hand, floods. Climate change is the next deadly enemy created by this hunger. Ban Ki-moon has warned, “If we don’t take steps to avoid climate change, our future generations will judge us harshly”. We were supposed to follow Nature Naturata (i.e., Nature nurturing) in return for Natira Naturans (i.e., Nature and humanity nurtured). Alas! Giving in to greed, we used our power against Nature itself.
Beyond the macro-level influences of power, at a very micro-level individual level, power affects us all; otherwise, ‘we affect our power on all’. From this arises social tension, conflict, and a lack of social coherence that binds society. The ongoing Venezuelan crisis is a paradox – a country super-rich in mineral oil facing hyperinflation and instability. The mistake was that of one ‘individual’. Thus, taming and controlling individual power aided with responsibility is important.
Beyond individuals, our cultural traditions reflect our collective use of power. Moses led the exodus of Israelites from Egypt; Noah built an ark to safeguard biodiversity. Tribals today are demanding their rights under Article VIth of the Indian constitution to practice a cultural model of conservation (i.e., care by the Idu Mishmi tribe in Arunachal Pradesh against declaring their area a national