From “Valley of the Wolves” to the Equation: Can Hidden Power Be Stopped Only by Hidden Resistance?
Mohammad Kourani — 2026.08.21
The television series Valley of the Wolves, through its protagonist Polat Alemdar, presents a dramatic conception of power in which power is not confined to the visible institutions of the state, but is distributed across interconnected levels:
The official state → the deep state → intelligence agencies → financial and mafia networks → the Barons → international organizations and elites → the great powers.
The problem does not lie in the existence of multiple centers of power as such. The modern state needs multiple security, intelligence, economic, and political institutions. The problem begins when these centers become invisible authorities whose powers are unknown to society and which cannot be held accountable.
Official authority can be questioned:
Who made the decision? Under which law?
But with hidden authority, the same question may have no answer.
Here emerges one of the most dangerous paradoxes: the secrecy of information required to protect the state may become secrecy surrounding power itself. The deep state may transform from an instrument for protecting the state into a power above the state. Money becomes influence, influence becomes decision-making power, and decision-making power becomes the ability to reshape crises and wars.
This is why the series raises a profound philosophical question:
Who watches the watchman when the watchman himself is no longer subject to oversight?
In this context, the character of Polat Alemdar appears as a dramatic model of an attempt to confront a power network that cannot be reached through official channels alone.
He enters the world of the mafia and the Barons not because he wants to become part of their system, but because he seeks to dismantle the network from within and redirect the balance of power.
And here emerges the great paradox:
To confront hidden power, one may sometimes need to understand its tools, methods, and levels; but the danger is that the person fighting it may himself become part of it.
From the World of the Series to Contemporary Reality
If we move from the world of the series to real-world political analysis, confronting international power networks cannot be reduced to direct military confrontation.
States and groups confronting forces much greater than themselves require:
organization, information, institutional security, economic capacity, independence in decision-making, and social cohesion.
Resistance movements may view clandestine or undisclosed activity as necessary when confronting an adversary possessing overwhelming superiority in intelligence, technology, military capabilities, financial resources, and political power.
But here we must distinguish between two things:
Secret work as a means of protecting an organization and its information,
and
secret authority that is accountable to no one.
The first may be a tool in an asymmetric struggle; the second can only be confronted by understanding the nature of the power it represents and by building institutions capable of resisting unaccountable authority.
Therefore, the strength of any resistance should not be measured solely by the amount of power it possesses, but also by its ability to prevent power from transforming into absolute authority within its own ranks.
The Most Important Equation
If the world of Valley of the Wolves suggests that:
Hidden power cannot be confronted by visible power alone,
then the broader conclusion is that confronting complex systems of power requires an organized popular resistance capable of operating across multiple dimensions:
politically, securely, economically, informationally, and technologically,
while maintaining the ability to protect the independence of its decision-making.
Here, the fundamental question is no longer:
Who possesses the strongest weapon?
Rather:
Who possesses the determination and collective commitment to protect their decision-making, understand their adversary, endure its superiority, and prevent the adversary from penetrating their internal structure?
This is the central idea that makes the world of Valley of the Wolves more than a story about the mafia.
It is a dramatic conception of a struggle between visible authority and hidden authority, and between those who possess the formal right to manage the state and those who possess the ability to manage what exists beyond the state.
The Final Principle
In the end, the most important principle remains:
If hidden power can influence states without being seen, confronting it cannot be based on impulsive action alone.
It requires building an organized, conscious, resilient force capable of operating at depth, while at the same time remaining committed to a clear purpose and subject to ethical and political responsibility.
And here lies the paradox:
A secretive system cannot be defeated merely through public slogans and visible institutions. But neither can a just alternative be built simply by imitating its secrecy, its hidden structures, and its methods.
What is required is a force capable of confronting the power of the deep state and hidden authorities without itself becoming a power above society.
This is why a force of young people who possess faith, conviction, determination, and a genuine sense of responsibility—untainted by the pursuit of power, status, and wealth—can become the living and beating conscience of society.
Mohammad Abbas Kourani�
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