Story of the Black Tulip (2)

"Then our autocratic President said, 'How do you know when you're getting old? I truly believe that age is a state of mind. I know an octogenarian who has more energy enthusiasm and drive than others half his age. I am also familiar with people in their thirties and forties who look like they already have one foot in the grave.'

'But Mr. President,' the journalist interrupted, 'what are the warning signs, the tell-tale indicators that the years may be catching up with you?'

Scratching his head, the President said, 'Yeaa ... maybe your kids try to light the candles on your birthday cake, but the candles went out because it was blown away by the wind. Or you call the ambulance dispatcher and he tells you your address. Or you begin to lose hope of ever finishing your Biography. Or you stop buying green bananas. And or ... you don't think 'getting older' jokes are funny.'

"Let's carry on!" said the Tulip. "The world is sometimes not a very nice or fair place, says Jeffrey Pfeffer, and while you've got the position you wanted, you had to expend effort and demonstrate patience and interpersonal toughness to do so—to hang in with people who initially didn’t particularly respect your abilities. Why not just eschew power, keep your head down, and take what life throws at you?

However, almost anything is possible in attaining positions of power. You can get yourself into a high-power position even under the most unlikely circumstances if you have the requisite skill or competence.

So, why you should want Power? First of all, having power is related to living a longer and healthier life. When Michael Marmot examined the mortality from heart disease among British civil servants, he noticed an interesting fact: the lower the rank or civil service grade of the employee, the higher the age-adjusted mortality risk. Of course many things covary with someone’s position in an organizational hierarchy, including the incidence of smoking, dietary habits, and so forth. However, Marmot and his colleagues found that only about a quarter of the observed variation in death rate could be accounted for by rank-related differences in smoking, cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, and physical activity. What did matter was power and status—things that provided people greater control over their work environments. Studies consistently showed that the degree of job control, such as decision authority and discretion to use one’s skills, predicted the incidence and mortality risk from coronary artery disease over the next five or more years. In fact, how much job control and status people had accounted for more of the variation in mortality from heart disease than did physiological factors such as obesity and blood pressure.

These findings shouldn’t be that surprising to you. Not being able to control one’s environment produces feelings of helplessness and stress, and feeling stressed or 'out of control' can harm your health. So being in a position with low power and status is indeed hazardous to your health, and conversely, having power and the control that comes with it prolongs life.

Second, power, and the visibility and stature that accompany power, can produce wealth. Rudy Giuliani, following his tenure as mayor of New York City, became a partner in a security consulting firm, and through that firm and his speaking fees, he too quickly transformed his economic status for the better. Not all power is monetized—neither Martin Luther King Jr. nor Mahatma Gandhi traded on their celebrity to attain great wealth—but the potential is always there.

Third, power is part of leadership and is necessary to get things done—whether those things entail changing the health-care system, transforming organizations so they are more humane places to work, or affecting dimensions of social policy and human welfare. Leaders are invariably preoccupied with power.

Power is desirable to many, albeit not all, people, for what it can provide and also as a goal in and of itself. The social psychologist David McClelland wrote about a need for power. Although the strength of that power motive obviously varies across individuals, along with a need for achievement, McClelland considered power seeking a fundamental human drive, found in people from many cultures.8 If you are going to seek power, you will be happier if you are effective in that quest.

To be effective in figuring out your path to power and to actually use what you learn, you must first get past three major obstacles. The first two are the belief that the world is a just place and the hand-me-down formulas on leadership that largely reflect this misguided belief. The third obstacle is yourself.

The belief in a just world has two big negative effects on the ability to acquire power. First, it hinders people’s ability to learn from all situations and all people, even those whom they don’t like or respect. Many people conspire in their own deception about the organizational world in which they live. That’s because people prefer to believe that the world is a just and fair place and that everyone gets what he or she deserves. And since people tend to think they themselves are deserving, they come to think that if they just do a good job and behave appropriately, things will take care of themselves.

Second, this belief that the world is a just place anesthetizes people to the need to be proactive in building a power base. Believing hat the world is fair, people fail to note the various land mines in the environment that can undermine their careers.

The next obstacle you will need to overcome is the leadership literature. Don’t automatically buy into advice from leaders. It could be accurate, but more likely it is just self-serving. People distort reality. One study found that out of 1,000 resumés, there were substantial misstatements on more than 40 percent. Therefore, if there is public servant who will be a jury but still intervene, and he says, 'Ho oh, I will be neutral!' Will you immediately believe him? OMG, please ...

What you should trust is the social science research that provides help on how to acquire power, hold on to it, and use it. And you should trust your own experience: Watch those around you who are succeeding, those who are failing, and those who are just treading water. Figure out what’s different about them and what they are doing differently. That’s a great way to build your diagnostic competence—something useful in becoming an organizational survivor.

The third big obstacle to acquiring power is, believe it or not, you. People are often their own worst enemy, and not just in the arena of building power. That’s in part because people like to feel good about themselves and maintain a positive self-image. And ironically, one of the best ways for people to preserve their self-esteem is to either preemptively surrender or do other things that put obstacles in their own way.

There is an immense research literature about this phenomenon—called 'self-handicapping.' The logic is deceptively simple. People desire to feel good about themselves and their abilities. Obviously, any experience of failure puts their self-esteem at risk. However, if people intentionally choose to do things that could plausibly diminish their performance, then any subsequent performance decrements can be explained away as not reflecting their innate abilities.

There is evidence that the tendency to self-handicap is an individual difference and predicts the extent to which people make excuses about their performance. Research shows, not surprisingly, that self-handicapping behavior negatively affects subsequent task performance. Therefore, our desire to protect our self-image by placing external impediments in our way so we can attribute any setbacks to things outside our control actually contributes to doing less well. Keep this idea about self-handicapping in mind—you will be more open-minded and also more likely to actually try some of the things you learn.

People often think that whatever qualities are needed for building a path to power, either you have them or you don’t, at least by the time you are an adult. But change is always possible. You can change, too. The best creativity is the result of habit and hard work. Of course people have personalities and individual attributes that come from some combination of genetics and upbringing. But strategically changing individual attributes to become more personally effective is both possible and desirable.

Asking about the qualities of people already in power can confound whether the qualities created the influence or whether they were a consequence of holding power. There are two fundamental personal dimensions and seven qualities that are both logically and empirically associated with producing personal power. The two fundamental dimensions that distinguish people who rise to great heights and accomplish amazing things are 'will,' the drive to take on big challenges, and the capabilities required to turn ambition into accomplishment, accoding to Pfeffer, skill, but I'd rather to choose competence. The three personal qualities embodied in will are ambition, energy, and focus. The four skills useful in acquiring power are self-knowledge and a reflective mind-set, confidence and the ability to project self-assurance, the ability to read others and empathize with their point of view, and a capacity to tolerate conflict. These things are the determining factors why not everyone can have power.

'There is no free lunch.' Nothing comes without cost, and that is certainly true of power. People who seek and attain power often pay some price for the quest, for holding on to their positions, and confronting the difficult but inevitable transitions out of powerful roles. So, there is an important lesson: you will be the object of constant attention by peers, subordinates, superiors, and the media.

It’s not just the big things that draw scrutiny when you are in power. Holding a position of power means that more than your job performance is being carefully watched—although that happens as well. Every aspect of your life, including how you dress, where you live, how you spend your time, who you choose to spend time with, what your children do, what you drive, how you act in completely non-job-related domains, will draw scrutiny.

People are interested in their reputation and image. Consequently, they spend time on impression management. This need to spend time and other resources on image maintenance increases as public scrutiny increases. And time spent dealing with scrutiny and managing appearances is time that cannot be spent doing other aspects of one’s job.

Under the pressure to 'look good,' people and companies are reluctant to take risks or innovate, opting to do what seems safe.

At first, in a powerful role, all the demands for your attention are flattering—after all, it’s great that so many people want to see you. Therefore people who have recently been promoted tend to be overwhelmed by the time demands of their more powerful job. Not wanting to refuse requests by groups and individuals whose support they may need and whose attention they value, powerful people can easily find themselves overscheduled and working too many hours, something that drains their energy and leaves them unable to cope with the unexpected challenges of their job.

Building and maintaining power requires time and effort, there are no two ways about it. Time spent on your quest for power and status is time that you cannot spend on other things, such as hobbies or personal relationships and families. The quest for power often exacts a high toll on people’s personal lives, and although everyone bears some costs, the price seems to be particularly severe for women.

Remember this simple truth: the higher you rise and the more powerful the position you occupy, the greater the number of people who will want your job. Consequently, holding a position of great power creates a problem: who do you trust? Some people will be seeking to create an opportunity for themselves through your downfall, but they won’t be forthcoming about what they are doing. Some people will be trying to curry favor with you by telling you what they think you want to hear so you will like them and help them advance. And some people will be doing both.

To be a public figure and perform at a high level requires an intensity that produces, in Nick Binkley's words, 'a caffeinated high.' When you leave such a position and that level of activity ceases, it is almost, as Binkley put it, 'like a car going from ninety miles an hour to a dead stop.'

Power is addictive, in both a psychological and physical sense. The rush and excitement from being involved in important discussions with senior figures and the ego boost from having people at your beck and call are tough to lose, even if you voluntarily choose to retire or leave and even if you have more money than you could ever spend. In a power-and celebrity-obsessed culture, to be 'out of power' is to be out of the limelight, away from the action, and almost invisible. It is a tough transition to make. And because it is, some executives seek to avoid switching to a less powerful role. You should not necessarily eschew power, but it is important to recognize the potential downsides. The balance between the advantages and the costs is something each individual must weigh in deciding his or her own particular relationship with power.

Then how—and why—people lose power? Even after achieving a powerful, top-level position, staying on top is scarcely guaranteed. Although each case of lost power has its own peculiarities, there are some common factors that you need to avoid. While it is inevitable that everyone will lose power eventually—we all get old and leave our positions—it is not inevitable that people will lose power as often or as quickly as they do.

The old saying “Power corrupts” turns out to be mostly true, although “corrupt” is probably not quite the right word. Berkeley social psychologist Dacher Keltner and his colleagues talk about power leading to “approach” behavior—in that people more actively try to obtain what they want—and diminishing “inhibition,” or the tendency to follow social rules and constraints that might limit what people do to obtain their goals. Such behavior is a logical consequence of what happens to people in power. The obsequious and less powerful flatter the powerful to remain on their good side. Those with power have their wishes and requests granted. They get used to getting their way and being treated as if they are special. Although the powerful may be conscious that the special treatment comes from the position they occupy and the resources they control, over time these thoughts fade.

Studies of the effects of power on the power holder consistently find that power produces overconfidence and risk taking, insensitivity to others, stereotyping, and a tendency to see other people as a means to the power holder’s gratification.

One lesson from the growing number of studies on the effects of power is how little it takes to get people into a power mind-set where they engage in all kinds of disrespectful and rude behavior. Just having them think about a time when they were in power and able to get what they wanted (in contrast to having them think about a time they had little power and could not) or giving them even modest control over meaningless rewards in temporary groups of strangers seems to be sufficient. Overconfidence and insensitivity lead to losing power, as people become so full of themselves that they fail to attend to the needs of those whose enmity can cause them problems.

When you are powerful and successful, you are overconfident and less observant—and one specific manifestation of such tendencies is to trust what others tell you and rely on their assurances. As you become less vigilant and paranoid about others’ intentions, they have the opportunity to take you out of your position of power.

It is hard work to keep your ego in check, to constantly be attentive to the actions of others, and obtaining and keeping power requires long hours and lots of energy. After a while, some people get tired; they become less vigilant and more willing to compromise and give in. We always tend to see what we want or expect to see, but as people get burned out, the tendency to project desires onto reality becomes stronger.

People—and companies—fall into competency traps. They are successful because they do certain things in a certain way. Companies and leaders can fail to see the changes in the social environment that can make old ways less successful than they once were. The tendency of power to diminish the power holder’s attention and sensitivity to others with less power compounds this problem. The combination of diminished vigilance and changed circumstances often leads to the loss of power. The world changes, but tactics don't.

And finally, in the end, of course, everyone loses power. As organizational behavior professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld noted, some individuals make way for their successors. Others hang on past the time when they are effective. Some senior leaders prepare successors and leave to do other things. It is both possible and desirable to, 'leave before the party’s over' and to do so in a way that causes others to remember you fondly. You cannot always completely control how much power you maintain, but you can leave your position with dignity and thereby influence your legacy. And Allah knows best."

"I think it's enough for now, Wulan. Look, Dawn is approaching!" said Tulip while pointing at the sign of Subh.

"Okay, we'll end our session!" said Wulandari, then they sang,

Takkan selamanya, raga ini menjagamu

[It won't be forever, this body will guard you]

Jiwa yang lama segera pergi

[Elder souls will soon be gone]

Bersiaplah, para pengganti!

[Be ready, the substitutes!]

Tak ada yang abadi

[Nothing is eternal]

Tak ada yang abadi **)

[Nothing is eternal]

Citations & References:
- Dov Roller, The Restless Plant, 2011, Harvard University Press
- Richard Wilford, The Plant Lover's Guide to Tulip, 2015, Timber Press
- Ghillean Prance. (Ed.), Cultural History of Plants, 2005, Routledge
- Dana Sajdi, Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century, 2007, Tauris Academic Studies
- John Kenneth Galbraith, The Anatomy of Power, 1983, Houghton-Mifflin Trade and Reference
- Michael Korda, Power! How to Get it, How to Use it, 1975, Random House
- Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View, 2005, Palgrave
- Jeffrey Pfeffer, Power: Why some People have it—And Others Don't, 2010, International and Pan-American
*) "Bintang di Surga" written by Nazriel Irham
**) "Tak Ada yang Abadi" written by Nazriel Irham

[Session 1]

Bahasa

Story of the Black Tulip (1)

"President of somewhere in nowhere, who tend to be autocratic, was nearing to end his tenure, being interviewed by a journalist about old age. The journalist asked, 'How do you know when you're getting old?'

Swallowing his saliva, the autocrat said, 'You know you're getting older when you have retired, the telephone rings on a Saturday night and you hope it's not for you,'" said the Black Tulip to Wulandari when the light of the moon shone on her.

To introduce her podcast guest—let's just say this was Wulandari podcast—she started with, "Welcome back to my channel! Plants are curious organisms—clearly they are alive, but their apparent lack of any central organization (brain, heart, or nervous system) makes it harder for us to understand how they work. They are slow: usually they look today just like they did yesterday, and we have to wait, sometimes a long time, to see changes in them. Their metabolism, development, and sensory and response behaviors are orders of magnitude slower than those of most animals. Their bodies and development are not centralized but rather are diffuse; they grow in modular units, and often detached parts can reestablish as individuals (natural cloning) or be replaced. Plants don’t talk to us, so we are left to decipher what they are up to. This is the nature of inquiry, experimentation, and discovery.

All animals are dependent upon plants, since plants are the organisms at the base of the food chain, because of their capacity to photosynthesize—that is, to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugars, in the presence of sunlight. As life on Earth gradually evolved from simple unicellular organisms to the variety of organisms we know today, the complexity of interactions between plants and animals increased, but plants remained the basis for life on Earth. Plants support all animal life. Humans are no exception to this rule, and we are just as dependent upon plants as any other animal. We depend on plants not only for their role in producing the oxygen we breathe, but also for food, shelter, medicines, clothing, and countless other uses.

Well, our guest today, the Black Tulip. Black, it’s an unusual color of a beloved flower! Black Tulips are as eye-catching as they are hard to plant. Their shades of deep chocolate, dark maroon, and midnight purples can very easily be interpreted by the eye as true black. But the richness of their colours and the variety of their flower shapes make tulips endlessly fascinating.

Bright, dazzling, impressive, imposing, and sumptuous, even dominating—these are all words that can be used to describe the flowers of tulips. With names like ‘Golden Parade’, ‘World’s Favourite’, ‘Big Smile’, and ‘Olympic Flame’, tulips are not expected to be shy and retiring. They burst upon the scene in early spring, reaching a crescendo by late spring before disappearing for the summer. They demand your attention and accommodating them in your garden will need some thought, otherwise what you imagined would be a joyous, flamboyant display might turn out to be overpowering, harsh, or even lurid.

It may not be love at first sight, but the allure of these plants will creep up on you and before you know it, you are seeking out new varieties, experimenting with different colour combinations, and finding new places to try tulips in your garden.

Now, let's listen what the Tulip would like to tell us!"

After fixing her bobbed hair, Tulip said, "Thanks for having me, Wulan! It's true that my kind, Tulip, comes in almost every colour, the exception being true blue, although some forms come very close. Plant tulips in a single colour block for a bold display or arrange them in geometric shapes of contrasting primary colours to jolt the senses.

Tulips are often associated with Turkey because it is from there that they were brought into Europe in the sixteenth century. Most tulip species are from further east, in the rocky valleys, hills, and mountains of Central Asia but, because of their intensely colourful flowers, they were grown and revered in Turkey, especially in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In the reign of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30), known as the Tulip Age (Lâle Devri) because of the popularity of that flower in Constantinople in the early 18th century. Tulips with long narrow, pointed petals—often called needle tulips—were especially favoured.

Each of Tulips has a special look, and mainly the Black Tulip, signify power and strength. Now, despite all the stories about the Tulips, let me tell you about the Power.

The world you live in is a challenge and a game, and that a sense of power—your power—is at the core of it, says Michael Koda. All life is a game of power. Some people play the power game for money, some for security or fame, others for manhood game, most for some combination of these objectives. The master players seek power itself, knowing that power can be used to obtain money, sex, security or fame. None of these alone constitutes power; but power can produce them all. No matter who you are, the basic truth is that your interests are nobody else's concern, your gain is inevitably someone else's loss, your failure someone else's victory. Further, Koda says that to play the power game, it is first necessary to discover for yourself what power is. The trick is to develop a style of power based on one's character and desires. It is not enough to want power, or even to have it. It must be used creatively. And it must be enjoyed. The use of power as a weapon of aggression makes monsters of us. Power must be the servant, not the master.

According to Bertrand Russell, power, along with glory, remains the highest aspiration and the greatest reward of humankind. John Kenneth Galbraith says that not many get through a conversation without a reference to power. Max Weber, the German sociologist and political scientist, while deeply fascinated by the complexity of the power, contented himself with a definition close to everyday understanding: power is 'the possibility of imposing one's will upon the behavior of other persons.' This, almost certainly, is the common perception; someone or some group is imposing its will and purpose or purposes on others, including on those who are reluctant or adverse. The greater the capacity so to impose such will and achieve the related purpose, the greater the power. It is because power has such a commonsense meaning that it is used so often with so little seeming need for definition. Elsewhere Weber said of power that it is the ability of one or more persons to 'realize their own will in a communal act against the will of others who are participating in the same act.'

How the will is imposed, how the acquiescence of others is achieved? Is it the threat of physical punishment, the promise of pecuniary reward, the exercise of persuasion, or some other, deeper force that causes the person or persons subject to the exercise of power to abandon their own preferences and to accept those of others? Galbraith sugests that the instruments by which power is exercised and the sources of the right to such exercise are interrelated in complex fashion. Some use of power depends on its being concealed on their submission not being evident to those who render it. And in modem industrial society, both the instruments for subordinating some people to the will of others and the sources of this ability are subject to rapid change. Much of what is believed about the exercise of power, deriving as it does from what was true in the past, is obsolete or obsolescent in the present.

Power, in a secular way, yields strongly to the three instruments for wielding or enforcing it: condign, compensatory, and conditioned power. Condign power wins submission by the ability to impose an alternative to the preferences of the individual or group that is sufficiently unpleasant or painful so that these preferences are abandoned. It can be said, by using a condign punishment. Condign power wins submission by inflicting or threatening appropriately adverse consequences. Compensatory power, in contrast, wins submission by the offer of affirmative reward by the giving of something of value to the individual so submitting. In an earlier stage of economic development, as still in elementary rural economies, the compensation took varied forms including payments in kind and the right to work a plot of land or to share in the product of the landlord's fields. And as personal or public rebuke is a form of condign power, so praise is a form of compensatory power. However, in the modern economy, the most important expression of compensatory power is, of course, pecuniary reward the payment of money for services rendered, which is to say for submission to the economic or personal purposes of others.

It is a common feature of both condign and compensatory power that the individual submitting is aware of his or her submission in the one case compelled and in the other for reward. Conditioned power, in contrast, is exercised by changing belief. Persuasion, education, or the social commitment to what seems natural, proper, or right causes the individual to submit to the will of another or of others. The submission reflects the preferred course; the fact of submission is not recognized. Conditioned power, more than condign or compensatory power, is central, to the functioning of the modem economy and polity, and in capitalist and socialist countries alike.

Compensatory enforcement is thought to be far more civilized, greatly more consistent with the liberty and dignity of the individual, than condign enforcement. In the poor society the difference between condign and compensatory enforcement is small; only in the rich society does a major difference emerge. When poverty was general, free workers toiled in fear of the starvation and other privation that were the alternative to compensation.

Behind these three instruments for the exercise of power lie the three sources of power the attributes or institutions that differentiate those who wield power from those who submit to it. These three sources are personality, property and organization.

Personality leadership in the common reference is the quality of physique, mind, speech, moral certainty, or other personal trait that gives access to one or more of the instruments of power. In primitive societies, this access was through physical strength to condign power; it is a source of power still retained in some households or youthful communities by the larger, more muscular male. However, personality in modern times has its primary association with conditioned power with the ability to persuade or create belief.

Property or wealth accords an aspect of authority, a certainty of purpose, and this can invite conditioned submission. But its principal association, quite obviously, is with compensatory power. Property income provides the wherewithal to purchase submission.

Organization, the most important source of power in modern societies, has its foremost relationship with conditioned power. It is taken for granted that when an exercise of power is sought or needed, organization is required. From the organization, then, come the requisite persuasion and the resulting submission to the purposes of the organization. But organization, as in the case of the state, also has access to condign power to diverse forms of punishment. And organized groups have greater or lesser access to compensatory power through the property of which they are possessed.

Because there is a primary but not exclusive association between each of the three instruments by which power is exercised and one of the sources, so there are also numerous combinations of the sources of power and the related instruments. Personality, property, and organization are combined in various strengths. From this comes a varying combination of instruments for the enforcement of power.

From the combination of personality, the property, and, above all, the unique organization came the conditioned belief, the benefices or compensation, and the threat of condign punishment. Such is the complex of factors incorporated in and, in great measure, concealed by that term. Political power, economic power, corporate power, military power, and other such references similarly and deeply conceal an equally diverse interrelationship. When they are mentioned, their inner nature is not pursued. Individuals and groups seek power to advance their own interests, including, notably, their own pecuniary interest. And to extend to others their personal or social values. And to win support for their economic or other social perception of the public good. The businessman buys the submission of his workers to serve his economic purposes to make money. The politician seeks the support, which is to say the submission, of voters so that he may remain in office.

Why you should want power? Why some have it and why not all people have it? Obtaining and holding on to power can be hard work. You need to be thoughtful and strategic, resilient, alert, willing to fight when necessary. We'll discuss it on the next session, bi 'idhnillah."

"And cut!" Wulandari then stopped for a moment the session to carried on the next session. Before continuing, she sang,

Bagai bintang di surga dan seluruh warna

[Like stars in heaven and all colors]

Dan kasih yang setia dan cahaya nyata

[And faithful love and true light]

Oh bintang di surga berikan cerita

[O stars in heaven give a story]

Dan kasih yang setia dan cahaya nyata *)

[And faithful love and real light]

[Session 2]

Bahasa

Story of the Vespa Scooter

"Two commercial bankers were having lunch. One was a twenty-year veteran of the finance industry, the other a novice just out of business school. The younger was picking the other’s brain for advice.

'Mr. Senior, what usually happens when a person with a lot of money but no experience goes into partnership with a person who has no money but lots of experience?'

'Either the venture will fail altogether,' advised the senior, 'or ... the partner with the experience will end up with all the money,'" said the Vespa when she met with Wulandart at that night.

"And why Vespa?" Wulandari began with asking. The she said, "Yes ... Aesthetics. You all know that Vespa was developed from Scooters. There were five golden rules distinguishing scooters from other two-wheelers: a small motor placed near or next to the rear wheel, an enclosed chassis, a body to protect the driver from splashes, two small-diameter wheels and, finally, an automatic-clutch transmission package patented by Salsbury. The vehicles’ unique silhouette could also be added to this list. Scooters were promoted as an alternative to both cars and bicycles: on one hand, they were more agile, maneuverable and less expensive, and on the other, they were more comfortable, safe and universally affordable. Only one more ingredient was missing to truly prepare the soil that would eventually produce the Vespa: Aesthetics. And now, let's hear on what the Vespa will tell us."

The the Vespa said, "At the end of March 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intention to tax Vespas in the United States. The real aim of this measure was not to protect the domestic market, instead, was to issue a warning to the trade policies of the European Union.

If we consider the economic aspect of this development alongside its cultural implications, Trump’s stance can be interpreted as a telling indicator of the role that certain symbols play in social life. On one hand, it suggests that the Vespa still enjoys international prestige and recognition. On the other hand, while just yesterday the 'two-wheeled insect' was one of the most effective ambassadors of the 'made in Italy' throughout the world—in other words, a product internationally identified with Italy—this move by the world’s most influential politician turned it into something more: an icon representing Europe as a whole.

Then why I called Vespa an insect? The Vespa could be maneuvered with ease and minimum effort. The Vespa appeared clean and offered the driver protection from bumps and dirt thanks to complete coverage of the engine parts and a front shield. The bodyshell was practically blasphemy in relation to motorcycle design of the time, but it was fine for scooters, which had already broken away from the dictates of the more aggressive and exuberant motorcycles. Vespa boasted an aerodynamic and slender profile, especially at the back, where its waspish waist gave the scooter its name: indeed Vespa is the italian translation of 'Wasp.'

The history of Vespa cannot be separated from the social, political and cultural implications of economic facts such as technological innovation in the field of motorcycles. Social events are always a combination of economic, political and cultural elements that only appear to be distinct because our way of looking at them—our perspective—artificially differentiates among and separates them.

The Società Rinaldo Piaggio was established in 1884 in Sestri Ponente (Genoa/Liguria) by Enrico Piaggio and his 19-year-old son Rinaldo to work timber for ships. After only three years (1887), Rinaldo broke with his father to found the company Piaggio & Co. Four partners joined him in this enterprise: Giuseppe Piaggio (Enrico’s brother and a ship-owner), Pietro Costa, Giacomo Pastorino and Nicolò Odero. By the end of the century, Rinaldo had bought up all the company shares. It was a promising period. Italy had entered a positive growth cycle which, fueled by the aid of the mixed banks, brought the country more in line with the most advanced economies.

With the outbreak of the First World War (WWI), the Piaggio family began to mobilize for war. The Liguria-based group benefited from the state’s demand for the weapons and goods needed for military campaigns, a demand that changed the face of industry, increasing in particular the size, turnover and technological development of the aviation sector.

At the end of the war, the company’s financial statement was unquestionably positive, as it was for all the sectors involved in industrial mobilization: on average, their reported earnings doubled. In the automotive sector, revenues even quadrupled. Piaggio had set out from shipbuilding and proceeded to aeronautics, passing through railways.

From the Ethiopian war to the fall of Mussolini, the Piaggio company experienced an extremely positive period of quantitative growth. From the Ethiopian war to the fall of Mussolini, the Piaggio company experienced an extremely positive period of quantitative growth. Fascism granted Rinaldo the same level of favoritism it extended to other enterprises, such as the Terni steel plants, which manufactured a product that was key not only for the country’s military security but also for any industrial development plan it might have pursued. Nevertheless, Piaggio’s bond with Fascism deeply affected the life of the company, contributing to its good fortune and orienting its strategy and structure.

World War II was particularly cruel in the Tuscan region and no pain was spared. The industrial conversion the Piaggio company carried out beginning in 1944. What resources fueled the company’s recovery and how did they lead to the invention of the Vespa? The allies began bombing the cities of Pisa, Livorno and Pontedera during the summer of 1943, but the worst was yet to come. 1944 was a year of destruction, death and disaster that touched the civilian population as well, trapped as it was between Anglo-American air strikes and a Nazi retreat that deliberately declared a 'war on civilians,' up to and including planned massacres. The area of Valdera was no exception, and indeed allied bombs destroyed Pontedera in January. The first hit area was the airport, on 6 January, and then the Piaggio plant was struck on the 18th, suffering serious damage. At the beginning of January 1943, first signs of a plan to transfer the Pontedera plant elsewhere began to show. At the beginning of January 1943, first signs of a plan to transfer the Pontedera plant elsewhere began to show. Steps were taken during the spring of 1943 to begin distributing facilities to various areas in the province of Pisa. With the new year, Piaggio began to rebuild its facilities, reassembling the parts of the factory and ensuring the various equipment was operational once again, even as the conflict continued to rage in the North.

With the partisan uprising in April 1945 and the end of WWII, all war production activities ceased, and by the beginning of May, the Piedmont plants had already begun manufacturing scooters—the MP5 prototype at first and then its upgrade, the MP6.

'When Corradino D’Ascanio’s pencil first sketched the graceful, alluring lines of the Vespa in 1945, the history of the scooters had already begun. That decisive sketch, destined to change the world of two-wheeled transportation and to represent the very idea of 'scooters' in the collective imagination, was the culmination of an evolution that lasted at least three decades. An examination of the various models and styles as well as the tried and tested techniques of the Vespa’s forerunners provides a portrait of the international scooter market on which the Piaggio company was to make its mark. This background grants historical depth to the fortunes of the Pontedera-based company.

The scooter differs from the motorcycle in a variety of respects. Generally speaking, it has smaller wheels; a more or less streamlined, step-through frame; a more comfortable riding position that enables drivers to rest their feet on a floorboard rather than requiring them to straddle the vehicle; and practicality. As a motor vehicle, therefore, it does not require any special physical traits or technical skills to be driven.

The habit of using the word scooter to denote a vehicle that dashes or 'scoots' probably become more widespread following the appearance of the Autoped in 1915. Equipped with very small wheels, an open, platform-shaped frame and engine over the front wheel, this vehicle was highly reminiscent of a kick scooter, and in fact the driver’s standing position reinforced this impression. The Autoped was produced in New York and circulated in the US until 1921. Thanks to licensing agreements, it also arrived in Britain, sold by UK Imperial Motor Industries, and in Germany under Krupp.

The first Scooter Club was established in Paris in 1920 on the crest of the wave of scooter enthusiasm. The Club’s significance should not be underestimated, as it was an important precursor to the better-known Vespa club. The organization’s activities consisted mainly of setting up regularity and speed races on city streets or outings for members. This earliest scooter phase, dominated by the pioneering two-wheelers, concluded with the appearance of the Unibus in Britain in 1920.

Unibus represents a turning point, as it already featured a number of stylistic solutions and avant-garde techniques destined to prevail in the following period, including some elements of the Vespa itself: the body was made of a pressed aluminum sheet; the single-cylinder, two-stroke engine was enclosed in a special compartment and, in one of the models, was even mounted beside the rear wheel as in the Vespa; the wheels were smaller; it was equipped with suspensions; and the entire fork up to the handlebars was protected by an aerodynamic shield.

The second wave of scooters grew out of the specifics of the American context after the collapse of Wall Street. Motorized transport had existed for at least 15 years, but in this context it had to be adapted to respond to the financial crisis. Manufacturers releasing the second generation of scooters appeared in this moment and succeeded in detaching them from the previous image of a wealthy plaything; it was indeed in the US, some 20 years before Europe, that scooters were able to establish themselves as an inexpensive and highly useful vehicle. Between 1938 and 1946, at least 20 brands appeared.

E. Foster Salsbury conceived of the idea of producing a cheerful scooter for the mass market and, together with inventor Austin Elmore, introduced the first Salsbury Motor Glide at the 1935 Boat and Air Show in Los Angeles. Just two years later, a more sophisticated model was introduced and pompously dubbed the DeLuxe High Speed Motor Glide. Next came the Aero, whose name and logo—a pair of large, stylized wings joined together—provide the fundamental key to understanding the history of scooters, namely its ongoing relationship with aeronautics.

These new vehicles offered improved performances and were more reliable without losing any of the original nimbleness. These traits were continuously emphasized in American advertising through the introduction of a series of standard communicational messages. Among these was the feminization of these two-wheeled vehicles. The first advertisement, published in a 1936 magazine, showed a comely young woman in shorts and tank top waving from aboard her Motor Glide.

In the same period, Norman Siegal—dubbed king of the scooter by Time magazine—invented the Moto-Scoot. Inspired by the Salsbury, Siegal revolutionized the headlight position, incorporating it into the center of the handlebar. This solution was adopted by countless future scooters, including the post-1955 Vespa.

In the 1930s, Italy’s motorcycle industry was limited both by strictly economic factors, such as the narrow domestic market, and political ones, such as the regime’s autarchic policies. The fascist regime’s insistence on using exclusively Italian materials and obstructing the mport of foreign materials meant that motorcycle manufacturers were isolated and, to protect their profits, lacked any healthy competition with more adventurous developments outside the country.

Before WWII, the Italian industry was dominated by a pentarchy: Guzzi, Gilera, Sertum, Benelli and Bianchi. Generally speaking, the emphasis was on quality over quantity, and these manufacturers produced expensive, luxury or sports motorcycles equipped with sophisticated technology. Not having to compete with foreign models and prices, Italian manufacturers continued to ignore the push towards vehicles designed for a wider public, nonetheless managing to earn good profits without increasing the number of motorcycles on the road.

The first company to grasp the possibilities of the lightweight motorcycle industry was Fiat. It was certainly aware of American market trends, as it often sent executives to the US for business trips and training. In 1938, Fiat built the first example of an Italian scooter, one that closely resembled the Cushman, but it was never marketed.

Before presenting the Vespa, Enrico Piaggio had tried to produce American scooters under license. It was natural for Piaggio to explore the international market, and quite likely the company was considering a variety of projects and keeping all its options open, from licensed production to production based on original patents. In the end, aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio’s presence played a vital role in bringing the company around to the latter option.

The first Piaggio scooter displayed some key features. Its common name outside the factory walls was Paperino, the Italian translation of Donald Duck. Of course, this was not a random choice. Given that both bore the names of Disney characters, the automatic association with the Fiat Topolino (named after Mickey Mouse) was simply automatic. The name thus encapsulated an entrepreneurial project: just as the aim of the Topolino was to put the country on four wheels, so the Paperino sought to do the same on two.

D’Ascanio devised a new design that blended aeronautical, automotive and motorcycle criteria to produce a new MP6 prototype, completing it by the end of the year: this new MP6 was later renamed the Vespa. The Vespa was certainly very simple to use: one could mount and dismount it as easily as a bicycle and it had a step-through frame. It therefore guaranteed maximum comfort by allowing the driver to sit down while driving instead of having to straddle the chassis, as in classic motorcycles. In addition, women felt safer because they had a platform on which to rest their feet. The same option had been provided by previous leaders of the scooter pack, including the Unibus, Salsbury, Cushman, Moto-Scoot, Crocker and the mysterious Fiat exemplar. The fact that these vehicles were suitable for riders in skirts, whether women or the clergy, had become a consolidated cliché of American and European advertising.

Piaggio has developed an unprecedented degree of international activity through direct investments abroad. After benefiting from hybridization and the selective adaptation of know-how and technology from other countries of the so-called Western world, the Vespa, functioning as a sort of creative prism, refracted the experience of Pontedera out into the world, acting as an agent of globalization. Viewed through the lens of the Vespa, globalization appears more rhizomatic than we might think. The Italian scooter took those techniques, findings and know-how and sent them flying in different directions; in turn, these forms of knowledge produced new instances of hybridization and selective adaptation in the places where licensees cropped up. This occurred both in sites hosting a peak of advanced capitalism, such as the United Kingdom, and countries such as India that were focused on emancipating themselves from Western colonialism economically and socially after having gained political independence. In India, for example, Bajaj continued to produce scooters after his license had expired. Different entrepreneurial approaches, work cultures, habitus and beliefs met—and sometimes clashed—in this space. Although this encounter did not transform misunderstandings and points of friction into peace, it did help bring a bit of East to the West and some of the West to the East,"concluded the Vespa.

"And finally, as a closing," said Wulandari, "there are interesting things about Vespa in the Equator. It seems that it has become a habit that wherever you park your Vespa scooter, no one will take it. Likewise, every time you ride your Vespa,  whatever the case, no policeman would want to give you a ticket. Therefore, it would seem strange if there was a policeman who insisted on ticketing a pair of Vespa scooters. And Allah knows best."

From afar, the Dawn seemed to be approaching, and Wulandari departed singing,

Ku bukan superstar, kaya dan terkenal

[I'm not a superstar, rich and famous]

Ku bukan saudagar, yang punya banyak kapal

[I'm not a merchant, who owns lots of ships]

Ku bukan bangsawan, ku bukan priayi

[I'm not a noble, I'm not a prince]

Ku hanyalah orang yang ingin dicintai *)

[I'm just someone who wants to be loved]

Citations & Reference:

- Andrea Rapini, The History of Vespa: An Italian Miracle, 2019, Routledge

*) "Bukan Superstar" written by Gumilar Nurochman

Bahasa

Policy of the "Stupid Pricks" (5)

Peace lily went on, 'In a prison cell, two prisoners were having a conversation. The senior—who spend longer in prison—gave advice to the junior one—who recently enter into the prison, 'My first advice,' said the senior, 'there are only two rules in this prison, mate. Are you listening to me? One: You do not write on the walls. Two: You obey all the rules.'

'And my second advice, 'You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men.'

Then peace lily proceeded, 'Our investor asked the minister, 'State ... tell me Mr. Minister, why does state exist?'

'At first, historically, there were colonies, when these colonies decided to unite, so there existed a state,' the minister replied. 'In recent years, there are increasing prominence of writings on the theories and structure of the state. Yet, such views are highly diverse and conflicting regarding the main features of the roles and functions of the state. Indeed, there is not even a universally agreed definition of the meaning of the concept.

According to James McAuley, one feature on which there has been agreement, is the importance of the state, which, by the nineteenth century, had become the key political actor in most developed countries. At its peak in the United Kingdom, the state promised to intervene directly to provide care and support for its citizens from cradle to grave. Over the past 30 years, however, the ideology, nature and forms of state intervention have changed dramatically.

Central developments have featured a ‘hollowing out’ of state powers, in a whole series of moves towards more regulatory and less interventionist roles for the state. This has taken place against a background of increasing privatization and market liberalization.

It is possible to conceive of the state in two main ways. First, as the apparatus of rule of government within a particular geographical area; and secondly, as the social system that is subject to a particular set of rules or domination. Although Hall and Ilkenberry confirm that there is much disagreement, they suggest a composite definition of the state would include three main features. A set of institutions staffed by the state’s own personnel, at the centre of a geographically bounded territory, where the state has a monopoly over rulemaking.

Despite the difficulties in reaching any agreement on a definition of the state, one thing is clear, that the state has a direct influence on all our lives. Importantly, through its key institutions, we as individuals often feel that we experience the modern state in a way that is very different from other institutions in our society. As opposed to the somewhat nebulous and sometimes shadowy concept of the state, the family, for example, is often seen as a much more direct part of our experience. We feel we know about it at first hand. We can all offer some ‘commonsense’ definition of what the family is, or at least what it should be. Most feel that they are in a position to comment on the relationships within the family, and the functions and roles it should perform. This is not so as far as the state is concerned. Most often the state is seen as highly abstracted, or at the commonsense level as something separated from everyday life, which sets about imposing its will from above through a detached and inaccessible bureaucracy.

The state may not necessarily take on an overt interventionist role to enforce its desires, however. Rather, it plays a crucial role in determining what is, and importantly, what is not, socially acceptable behaviour. The state, however, still largely ‘frowns’ upon other forms of alternative living. The state can also sometimes, directly use the force of law to support its views. More broadly, the social security system, tax system, financial benefits and agencies of social intervention remain structured by a dominant view. The state also seeks to identify ideologically what is and what is not political. This is done in part at least, by defining what is deemed legitimate and what illegitimate, what is legal and what illegal, those who are ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’. Most crucially, it occurs by defining what is properly seen to be in the public domain and what in the private.

States are immaterial and nonphysical social objects, state can exist without societies, since it is a mere construct. There are, however, also societies within which the state is not highly developed. Indeed, there are even a few societies that it may be reasonable to refer to as ‘stateless’. The Nuer of southern Sudan and the Jale of the highlands of New Guinea, are two examples of such societies. These are often based on hunter-gatherer economies and do not have the need to co ordinate large numbers of people, or control the use of stored resources, within a fixed territory. They therefore tend not to depend on central organizations or have a recognizable state organization. Likewise, small-scale agrarian societies, while often operating within a fixed geographical location, rarely have clearly demarcated boundaries or a clear political organization.

Elsewhere, chiefdoms involve a ranking of people and a centralized authority. The chief is the inheritor of office, and performs a series of administrative roles: such as the distributor of resources, the arbiter of the legal system, and perhaps even religious functionary. It is also possible to find examples of non-industrialized societies where the concept of the state is somewhat more highly developed. Here, people are recognized as being a citizen of a territorially defined political unit, and status derived from lineage becomes less meaningful. State organization, as it does exist, surrounds the authority of central control, the co-ordination and structuring of different social groups, for example, slaves, bureaucrats, priests and politicians.

The state itself has, of course, changed its form over time. In Europe, the embryonic nation-state emerged from around the fifteenth century, and largely achieved a full-blown form by the nineteenth century. The nation-state that has emanated since then largely consists of a ‘people’ or ‘peoples’, expressing their right to self-determination, and within a ‘sovereign’ territory. Further, they claim the right to defend specific geographical boundaries against real or imaginary aggressors, irrespective of the persons who actually govern them. Moreover, within the modern nation-state, a government is seen to have authority over the area and is the ultimate power within it. The modern nation-state marks the replacement of absolutist rulers by a set of rules administered by a state-organized bureaucracy. It is in this that the state is seen to achieve legitimacy.

The state is relatively new in human terms, and the nation-state even more so. Its original form was primarily that of the ancient empire, the Assyrian, Egyptian, Minoan, Mycenean, Macedonian, being clear examples, or the city-state as demonstrated by the regimes in Babylon, Athens, Sparta and Rome.

The development of the state coincides with the development of other crucial social phenomena. These include written language, the growth of the centralized management of surplus economic production, in the shape of taxation and the use of organized ‘legitimate’ state forces to guard against internal threat and external enemies. Also important in the development of the mentiones states was that they had a centralized belief system or ideology, usually in the form of a state religion. Their leaders were invested either with god-like status, or with the power of the gods as their agents. Often the earliest state managers were priests in states based on theodicy.

In every society, individuals become acquainted with a political system in ways that often structure their reaction to political events and their perception of what politics is about. People, in this sense, have, at some level, to ‘learn’ what political issues and politics are. Most people live their lives sticking to their own political ideology, their own set of values, of understandings and beliefs. This is, of course, usually inconsistent over time, made up of a mixture of self-interest, self-evident ‘truths’, inconsistent or partially understood ideology, personalized reference points, life history experiences and interactions with other ‘politically’ motivated individuals, organizations and groups.

One important starting point is the consideration of just how in any given society individuals learn what is, and what is not, political. Likewise, people must also come to understand what is, and what is not, of political relevance and importance at any particular time.

One important starting point is the consideration of just how in any given society individuals learn what is, and what is not, political. Likewise, people must also come to understand what is, and what is not, of political relevance and importance at any particular time.

Within our society, power exists in many forms and on many levels. Hence, Anthony Giddens argues that power can be seen as a transforming capacity in all humans. It allows people to intervene in a variety of events throughout the world in order to alter them. However, in trying to develop a sociological concept of power, we must also recognize that the actions of human agents manifest in very different figurations of social relations. This leads us directly to consider the ultimate importance of the concept of power.

Michael Mann suggests that power emerges constantly in human societies. He further identifies four organizational sources of power as follows: Ideological Power, which emerges from the fact that humans seek to operate in terms of meanings, norms and rituals. It is ideologies that meet these needs. As such, ideological power can be ‘transcendent’, standing apart from society in a sacred way, such as religion, or ‘immanent’, dispersed through society by group cohesion and a sense of shared membership;

Economic Power, which derives from production, distribution, exchange and consumption. It is best expressed through a class structure.

Military Power from competition for physical survival. It produces direct control within a concentrated centre and the effect of indirect coercion on surrounding areas.

Political Power, which comes from the control of a physical territory and its population by a centrally administered regulation, concentrated in the state.

So, it can therefore be reasonably claimed that all modern states are nation-states, with distinct political apparatuses, holding supreme jurisdiction over a demarcated territorial area, backed by a claim to a monopoly of coercive power, and enjoying a minimum level of loyalty from its citizens.

A further defining characteristic of the nation-state is that most of those living within its boundaries and structured by its political system are citizens of that state, with rights and duties directly relevant to that state. Finally, modern nation-states are often directly associated with the wider concept of ‘nationalism’. The two are, however, by no means synonymous.

Clearly, not only do people recognize the state, they also ‘believe’ in it and see it as having ‘legitimate’ roles in their everyday lives. Most accept its right, albeit sometimes reluctantly, to structure and restrain their day-to-day existence. The majority respects at least some of its institutions: the Government; Parliament; the Law Courts; the Police; and the Military. Most are aware that they no longer live under the rule of all-powerful sovereigns, rather that they inhabit nation-states within which law and order and politics have become highly specialized endeavours. Politicians, for example, periodically offer themselves to gain popular support for the right to control public policy and the nation’s strategy and resources. Police forces and the military are authorized by the state to use force to maintain internal order and protect state boundaries from external threat.'"

"Perhaps," Peace Lily was about to end the story, 'discussion between our investors and the minister is still long, both openly and secretly. But, let's finish the story about them and allow me to tell you what Robert Nozick argued, that, without states, we would have Mafia like gangs trying to extort 'protection' money from everybody. Eventually, one gang would be one dominant and suppress all the competing gangs. It would establishing a monopoly on the use of violence to compel obedience. Isn't it dangerous? And Allah knows best.'"

Dawn had arrived, she brought three paintings, the first one was a white horse with all its burden; the second was a classic road racing bike with all its rigid rules; and the last one, was a unique painting sketch, a Vespa scooter with its wit and smile. Time to leave, Peace Lily and Wulandari were saying TaTa to each other, they both then sang Enya's song,

One by one, my leaves fall

One by one, my tales are told

My oh my! She was aiming too high ****)

Citations & References:

- Shankar IAS Academy, Environment, 2018, Shankar IAS Academy Book Publications.

- Richard P.F. Holt, Steven Pressman, and Clive L. Spash (Ed.), Post Keynesian and Ecological Economics: Confronting Environmental Issues, 2009, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited

- Ian L. Pepper, Charles P. Gerba, Mark L. Brusseau (Ed.), Environmental Pollution Science, 2006, Elsevier 

- Daniel J. Phaneuf & Till Requate, A Course in Environmental Economics: Theory, Policy and Practice, 2016, Cambridge University Press.

- S.A. Smith, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism, 2014, Oxford University Press

- Robert Service, Comrades! A History of World Communism, 2007, Harvard University Press

- David Levinson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Homelessness Vol. 1 & 2, 2004, Sage Publications

- Katherine Brickel, Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia and Alexander Vasudevan (Ed.), Geographies of Forced Eviction: Dispossession, Violence, Resistance, 2017, Palgrave

- Megan Ravenhill, The Culture of Homelessness, 2008, Ashgate

- James W. McAuley, An Introduction to Politics, State and Society, 2003, Sage Publications

- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 2013, Basic Books

*) "Lestari Alamku" written by Gombloh

**) "Willy" written by Iwan Fals

***) "Spectre" written by Jesper Borgen, Anders Froen, Tommy Laverdi, Gunnar Greve, Alan Olav Walker, Lars Kristian Rosness & Marcus Arnbekk

****) "One By One" written by Roma Ryan, Eithne Ni Bhraonain & Nicky Ryan

[Session 4]
[Session 1]

Bahasa