Very interesting article, but I feel the author misses a critical point about empowerment in many contexts, that bureaucracy, relationships and what not, rob the rule abiding and conscientious individual of personal power by setting limits on our actions.
That isn't an inherently bad thing, most people who think about this are willing to, in almost all situations, give up that power for the stability and comfort of rules and systems.
But it can lead to people not realizing they have the power to disobey at all.
This can cause problems, when the system is ineffective or useless, or when encountering someone who 'doesn't play by the rules'.
And also it's hard to responsibly wield power, most people would rather someone else do it for them.
And this can cause people to forget, or not realize they have the power.
So when the person who they've transferred it to does something that may be wrong or
incorect, or they simply disagree with they can feel frced to go along, because they've forgotten how to act, or think, on thair own.
But they have the power and empowerment, is I might argue, the process of releasing, or remembering, that.