Strategic Conflict is also about power. Power represents a fundamental element of every conflict interaction (Coleman, 2001).

Directly or indirectly, power provides the basis for people to achieve their instrumental, relational, and self­presentation goals. When a parent and a teenage child argue about curfew, the parent attempts to maintain power as the teenager attempts to gain power. Addi­tionally, people use what power they have to achieve their goals; the parent rely­ing on reward/punishment power and the teenager on expertise power (“all my friends stay out late”). The present chapter describes power and how it can be leveraged to obtain your desired goals.