The concept of power in political theory has long been a subject of intense scrutiny, particularly the challenges of balancing authority, control, and freedom. "Tempering power" refers to efforts to moderate and restrain the exercise of political power to prevent its abuse, often through institutional mechanisms such as checks and balances, civil society, and rule of law. While tempering power aims to safeguard individual liberties and prevent authoritarianism, it inevitably introduces tensions, particularly when the power to temper also risks weakening the capacity of the state to act decisively. This paper examines the concept of tempering power, focusing on its theoretical foundations, institutional mechanisms, and the tensions it creates. By analyzing historical and contemporary examples, we aim to assess how the tempering of power impacts the effectiveness of governance and its potential drawbacks.

Political power, tempering power, checks and balances

See, for e.g., Julie Cohen, Between Truth and Power: The Legal Constructions of Informational Capitalism (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2019); Shoshana Zubboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power (New York: Public Affairs, 2019); Seth Lazar, “Power and AI: Nature and Justification”, in Justin Bullock and Johannes Himmelreich (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press); M Micheli et al., “Emerging Models of Data Governance in the Age of Datafication”, Big Data & Society 7(2) (2020), https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720948087.

Law’s Rule at p. 3.

There is a growing literature on platform governance that takes this approach to the analysis of platform power. See, for example, Kate Klonick, “The New Governors: The People, Rules, and Processes Governing Online Speech”, Harvard Law Review 131(6) (2018): pp. 1598–1670.

Joseph Raz, “The Rule of Law and Its Virtue”, The Law Quarterly Review 93 (1977): pp. 195–211.

But see also Jeremy Waldron, “The Concept and the Rule of Law”, Georgia Law Review 43(1) (2008): pp. 1–61; Robin L. West, Re-Imagining Justice: Progressive Interpretations of Formal Equality, Rights, and the Rule of Law (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2003).