There is room for debate about the sharpness of distinctions between “communicative” and “practical” interests in Habermas's writings, but the general point is clear. In Between Facts and Norms, he argued that the capacity of civil society “to (p. 329) solve problems on its own is limited. The basic function of the public sphere is to move problems to the formal system” of politics and law-making. In the spaces of civil society, the goal should be “influence,” not “power.” Citizen efforts require translation into formal structures to amount to much: “Just like social power, political influence based on public opinion can be transformed into political power only through [formally authorized] institutionalized procedures.” The power of citizens is sharply circumscribed, and Habermas asserts that “the public opinion that is worked up via democratic procedures into communicative power cannot ‘rule’ of itself but can only point the use of administration power in specific directions” (1998, 359, 362, 363, 300).