‘Participation’ has long been an interest at IDS and has led to considering how power shapes people’s capacity and opportunities to engage in political and social life. Recently, we have been exploring issues of power both from the perspective of people living in poverty and struggling to claim their rights, and by finding out how power operates within the world of development organisations. Power is a complex concept and the contributions to this IDS Bulletin reflect diverse understandings within the Participation, Power and Social Change Team. The introduction proposes a schema that reflects this variety. Experiencing and reflecting on power puts the researcher into the frame of analysis, asking how power constructs our understanding of the world and how that understanding can be transformed. Consenting to power explores the idea of the social order, while contesting power looks at how that order is resisted and changed. Expanding power is about power not being a zero-sum game, an approach underpinned by a normative preference for cooperation rather than competition. Transforming power explores the relation between learning and empowerment, while knowing power emphasises the democratisation of knowledge for securing social change.