Ideas, power & life choices
Names and abbreviations on this page
OECD — Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. An intergovernmental organisation that compares policy evidence, develops recommendations and supports international standards. Here its work helps explain lobbying and public integrity.
Two connected collections explore how ideas and concentrated power shape public life, and how pursuits and persuasion shape everyday choices.
Twenty topics, two levels of understanding
Ideology, oligarchs & evidence of plotting
Ten pages distinguish ideas, political power, public influence and documented coordination, including historical and contemporary individuals.
Pursuits, persuasion & life choices
Ten pages explore motivation, values, social influence, constraints, decisions and consequences.
The connecting questions
What is being pursued? Which beliefs make a course of action seem reasonable? Who has resources and decision-making power? What alternatives are realistically available? Who experiences the benefits, costs and risks? These questions can be asked about an ordinary household decision or an institution, while the evidence needed at each scale differs.
Influence, coordination and proof
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) distinguishes legitimate participation in policy debate from undue influence and policy capture. A shared interest, meeting or donation is a starting point for investigation, not sufficient proof of a covert agreement. Establish the particular actors, decision and relationship before assigning a motive or alleging collusion. [1]
Motivation without mind-reading
Self-determination theory studies autonomy, competence and relatedness as psychological needs. These concepts can illuminate motivation, but do not provide a complete explanation of every person or prove why an individual chose a particular action. The choice pages add values, social influence, uncertainty, incentives and constraints to the discussion. [2]
Original writing and source use
The explanations and illustrative examples were newly written for this collection. Sources are linked beside the claims they support; historical interpretation, institutional statements and research findings are identified. Evidence-based paraphrase is used to explain concepts in a coherent reading sequence rather than reproduce an author’s passages.
Related Avmuri collections
Globalization, money and power
External Resources
[1] OECD — Lobbying and influence
Public governance guidance
[2] Center for Self-Determination Theory — Basic psychological needs
Research-program overview