I really like Stephen Lukes’ Powercube as a structure to look at different faces of power and how they manifest. This is another useful tool during strategy and project planning, to help you identify the different levels at which power asserts itself. It also encourages you to name them, which is useful to get clear about the institutions and policies that affect your work at the global, national, and local levels.

This can help you to draw lines between a regional policy that affects how resources are allocated in your country, and how that then translates to how your work is affected at the local level.

Each side of the cube presents a different facet to how power can present itself, and you can use this structure to connect the faces as well. You can use it to think through how invisible levels of power manifest in claimed spaces, and at the national level.

You can also find out more about the Powercube at Stephen’s page here.