Hannah Arendt on power vs. violence

Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent.  Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance.  This implies that it is not correct to think of the opposite of violence as non-violence; to speak of non-violent power is actually redundant.  Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it.

~ Hannah Arendt, On Violence (1970)

(Explained in "Hannah Arendt On Violence: The Opposite of Power," Great Books Prof, March 16, 2021.)

Hannah Arendt on political power and support of the people

Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert.  Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together.  When we say of somebody that he is 'in power' we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name.  The moment the group, from which the power originated to begin with ... disappears, 'his power' also vanishes. 

~ Hannah Arendt, On Violence

1970