Power as Visibility: Reframing the Ontology of Power in International Relations Theory

• In Event: Re-Theorizing International Relations

Abstract

Why do political actors already endowed with authority seek visibility, and why do politically "irrelevant" individuals or groups gain influence once they become publicly visible? This paper argues that visibility is the ontological condition of power (puissance)—not a symptom but the very ground on which power (poivoir) becomes possible. Visibility assures social relevance; without it, resources and force remain unpolitical.
IR theory has long struggled to define power and influence in ways that move beyond coercion or material capacity. Power is typically framed in terms of military or economic strength (Beckley, 2018), persuasive soft power (Nye, 1990), or domains of influence (Baldwin, 2016). Even relational approaches rarely address what makes an actor socially matter. This paper proposes a shift: power is the ability to be or make others (in)visible. Controlling others’ visibility is controlling who is socially relevant—who exists. Visibility is the mechanism by which this relevance is withheld.
Building on this, the paper’s argument extends to the point that who controls visibility has the ability to alter or maintain an audience’s interpretation of world politics. It outlines a framework for analyzing power not as a static possession but as a performative, visibility-dependent condition. Visibility here is not merely empirical (being seen) but ontological: it constitutes a political being.
This conceptual reframing enables a new reading of global political dynamics—highlighting how influence operates not only through force or diplomacy but through control over who becomes visible, what is to be seen, the means of it, and, thus, who matters.

Author

• Onur Tuğrul Karabıçak, Virginia Tech, ASPECT PhD Student