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This chapter discusses three advanced structural equation modeling topics: how to conduct a power analysis for SEM; how to prevent and solve problems of underidentification; and how to conduct a multiple-group analysis.

This chapter defines important terms and concepts. It a familiarity with issues related to the appropriate application of each statistical procedure in terms of assumptions and purpose. The chapter summarizes the book's organization as follows: approaches to estimating sample size including power analysis, confidence intervals, computer-intensive methods, ethical and cost considerations; synthesis and recommendations; comprehensive worked examples; and annotated bibliography of recommended readings and resources for sample size determination.

Despite the impressive amount of scholarly attention devoted to power analysis since World War II—and partially because of it—a number of questions remain unsettled or problematic. This chapter begins with a review of the fundamentals of power analysis, including the difference between relational and property concepts, the multiple dimensions of power, and the relevance of counterfactual conditions. It then considers twelve contentious “problems” in the power literature. These include theory-laden concepts, interests, essential contestability, zero-sum power, potential power, fungibility, intentions, measurement, reciprocal power, structural power, “power over” versus “power to,” and the role of costs in power analysis.

The heart of prophetic/liberative religious traditions is justice-centered faith. Its key is shared power. Both express a thirst for life. With justice for creation viewed as the center of religious faith and its morality, this chapter focuses on shared power as the means to overcome the oppression that follows from race, class, gender, or cultural privilege. A restructured ethic of power that counters the structured oppression of nature, including its human communities, is offered. Three case studies, around three key figures, are used for this—Martin Luther King, Jr. in the U. S., Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Germany, and Mohandas Gandhi in India. The work of Jared Diamond in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed supplements these studies.

This chapter starts by exploring different approaches to the notion of power. This sets the context for considering the tools that communities and social movements can apply, in order to understand power. Who has the power to make a difference in their particular situations? And how can the powerful be influenced – and where necessary challenged – most effectively? The chapter explores different analytical tools that can be used by communities, both locally and in international development contexts. The final section provides examples of power analysis in practice, providing guidance for developing strategies to challenge the Far Right in Britain, in recent times.

This chapter is divided into two parts. The first is an intellectual history of the treatment of the concept of power in the international relations literature in America from World War I until the 1960s. The focus is on comparing and contrasting the treatment of power by Hans J. Morgenthau and his followers and the treatment of power by Harold and Margaret Sprout, Arnold Wolfers, Frederick Sherwood Dunn, Quincy Wright, Richard Snyder, Ernst Haas and others who viewed themselves as promoting the study of international relations as a social science. The second part of this chapter is organized in terms of different analytical perspectives on power in the international relations literature. These perspectives include the treatment of power as identity, goal, means, mechanism (balance of power), competition, and capability.

The preceding chapters examined power analysis as a tool of social science and the concept of power in international relations theory from both historical and analytic perspectives. This chapter reviews the evolving role of the concept of power in international relations theories, summarizes the case for the contemporary relevance of a Dahlian approach to power analysis, and suggests guidelines for future research on the role of military power in international relations. It concludes with a consideration of the overall value of power analysis, including the clarification of policy options, understanding success and failure, understanding the role of power in the international system, and accountability.

Although most theories of international relations take account of “power,” none emphasizes it as much as realism. Power is often described as central to realist theories—realism's core concept. This chapter discusses realism in a generic sense and two influential recent versions commonly labeled neorealism and offensive realism. It argues that realism remains an important way of thinking about international relations. No other approach places so much emphasis on the concept of power; thus no other approach has greater need for a clear and valid concept of power. However, most realists agree that such a concept is lacking.

A theory is a set of principles that explains the functioning of a system. From this set of theoretical principles, the experimenter must decide which aspects of the behavior of the system will be the focus of investigation and (ideally) develop a model of the system and generate a specific hypothesis and predictions. This is the process of starting with a theory and making that theory testable. Given a specific prediction or hypothesis, choices must be made about the general approach and the specific methods and design of testing. This chapter considers the process of translating a theory to a hypothesis and then constructing a strong experiment. We focus on the development of experiments to provide strong tests of theories.

This chapter discusses the constructivist approach to the study of power in international relations. It argues that far from serving as a battleground for the dueling forces of constructivism and rationalism, power analysis is a potential point of convergence for at least some members of each camp. Barkin's Realist Constructivism (2010) is a step toward such convergence. It is worth noting that Barkin makes no reference to Lukes or Foucault, but does include references to Lasswell and Kaplan, Dahl, and Wolfers. Constructivists may yet make significant contributions to power analysis but not so long as they cling to a concept of power rooted in Foucault and the 1974 edition of Lukes.

Neoliberalism is not a logically coherent theory but rather a loosely related set of ideas criticizing the neorealist (and realist) treatment of actor designation, institutions, cooperation, international anarchy, the hierarchy of state goals, the role of power in international politics, and/or some combination of these topics. A bewildering assortment of terms has been used in this context, including liberalism, neoliberalism, neoliberal institutionalism, institutionalism, and interdependence theory. This chapter focuses on the foundational book in this approach—Power and Interdependence (1977) by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye Jr.—and the concept of “soft power” explicated by Nye between 1990 and 2011. This is a useful concept for policy analysis but also one in need of further clarification in order to become a useful social science concept.

This chapter examines the major changes that have taken place in security management since the 1980s. It does so on the basis of the most current and up-to-date criminological theory on the topic, the nodal governance perspective—a theoretical and normative aspect developed by criminologist Clifford Shearing in conjunction with colleagues such as Les Johnston and Jennifer Wood. It sets out the theory that the government is merely a node within a security network and that punishment is no more than one of the many instruments used to enforce order. It goes on to discuss the many correspondences of this theory with the power analysis of Michel Foucault, and how the nodal approach serves as a useful starting point for obtaining a better understanding of the latest developments in security management.

Learning how to write your own functions can seem like a daunting task, but Chapter 10 demystifies this process and teaches readers how to think about when and why this is an important thing to do. Beginning with simple functions and progressing to complex data simulations, writing functions is useful skill that will greatly expand the horizons of even relatively beginner R users.