Power grows only as the freedom of the subjected party also grows.

Evidence

Power also assumes openness to other possible actions on the part of the ego affected by power. Power invokes its performance of transmitting by being able to influence the selection of actions (or inactions) in the face of other possibilities. Power is greater if it is able to assert itself even in the face of attractive alternatives for action or inaction. And it can be increased only in combination with an increase in freedom on the part of whoever is subjected to power. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 595

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to Luhmann’s complexity-reduction thesis: power requires genuine alternatives, not mere annihilation of choice.