The power that comes from working across difference

This article originally appeared in the UCL Policy Lab Magazine.

Politics is often defined by power – those who have it, those who want it and those who want to get rid of it.

But we spend surprisingly little time asking what power actually is.

My answer to that always comes from one of the most inspiring political theorists of the 20th century: Hannah Arendt.

Arendt described power as the ability to “move with others”. What she meant was that power depends on collaboration. It is about coming together, finding common cause despite our differences and working collectively to change the world.

Reading over the contributions to this latest edition of the UCL Policy Lab magazine, I am struck by how that spirit manifests in everything that we do. All of our contributors here talk about working across differences. In doing so, they expand our understanding of the world and our capacity to change it for the better.

The energy that comes from this approach is palpable everytime I come to work. When the idea of the UCL Policy Lab first came into being, it was said that it should be a home for collaboration: a place that brings together UCL expertise in economics, political science and other disciplines with partners and communities to help tackle some of our biggest challenges.

In the words of one of our contributors, Dan Honig: “We’re involved in a joint project of trying to make the world a better place.” This can never be done by a single act or idea, but in the strength we draw from the work we do together. It’s when we come together to collaborate that we can see the possibility of lasting change.

None of that would be possible, of course, without the brilliant communities and organisations that we have been lucky enough to work with over the last few months and the inspiring foundations that financially support our work.

This spirit is reflected too in our latest edition of the Citizen Portraits project. Bringing together voices from Wigan and east London, it reflects the diversity of the communities we seek to serve, and the possibility for positive change when we work across our differences.

Marc Stears, Director UCL Policy Lab

Citizen Portraits Wigan and East London