3

In politics, power implies sanctions for noncompliance, and these sanctions often depend on coercion and force. But power based solely on coercion is an extreme that is normally avoided, because it is more difficult to maintain and less dependable than power based on common values. When values are shared, people usually comply readily with demands made upon them, because they accept the legitimacy of these demands. This is why those whose power is primarily coercive always seem to try to get their values accepted by the people they wish to control. Voluntary compliance, their actions seem to confirm, will be a more certain and less arduous way of holding power within a society than coercion.