Authority is the legitimate power which one person or group possesses and practices over another. A civil state usually makes this formal by way of a judicial branch and an executive branch of government. In the exercise of governance, the terms authority and power sometimes are inaccurately used as synonyms. The term authority identifies political legitimacy, which grants and justifies the right to exercise power of government; and the term power identifies the ability to accomplish an authorized goal, by way either of compliance or of obedience; hence, authority is the power to make decisions and the legitimacy to make such legal decisions and order their execution.
History
understandings of authority trace back to Rome and draw later from Catholic thought and other traditional understandings. In more modern terms, forms of authority include transitional authority exhibited in for example Cambodia, public authority in the form of popular power, and, in more administrative terms, bureaucratic or managerial techniques. In terms of bureaucratic governance, one limitation of the governmental agents of the executive branch, as outlined by George A. Krause, is that they are not as close to the popular will as elected representatives are. The claims of authority can extend to national or individual sovereignty, which is broadly or provisionally understood as a claim to political authority that is legitimated. Historical applications of authority in political terms include the formation of the city-state of Geneva, and experimental treatises involving the topic of authority in relation to education include Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. As David Laitin defines, authority is a key concept to be defined in determining the range and role of political theory, science and inquiry. The relevance of a grounded understanding of authority includes the basic foundation and formation of political, civil and/or ecclesiastical institutions or representatives. In recent years, however, authority in political contexts has been challenged or questioned.
Political philosophy
There have been several contributions to the debate of political authority. Among others, Hannah Arendt, Carl Joachim Friedrich, Thomas Hobbes, Alexandre Kojève and Carl Schmitt have provided some of the most remarkable texts. In political philosophy, the jurisdiction of political authority, the location of sovereignty, the balancing of freedom and authority, and the requirements of political obligations have been core questions from the time of Plato and Aristotle to the present. Most democratic societies are engaged in an ongoing discussion regarding the legitimate extent of the exercise of governmental authority. In the United States, for instance, there is a prevailing belief that the political system as instituted by the Founding Fathers should accord the populace as much freedom as reasonable, and that government should limit its authority accordingly, known as limited government. In the discussion regarding the legitimacy of political authority, there are two beliefs at the respective ends of the spectrum. The first is the belief in the absolute freedom of the individual, otherwise known as political anarchism. The second is the belief that there must be a central authority in the form of a sovereign that claims ownership and control over the masses. This belief is known as statism. Sovereignty, in modern terms, can refer either to the adherence to a form of sovereign rule or the individual sovereignty, or autonomy, of a nation-state. The argument for political anarchy and anti-statism is made by Michael Huemer in his book The Problem of Political Authority. On the other side, one of the main arguments for the legitimacy of the state is some form of the “social contract theory” developed by Thomas Hobbes in his 1668 book, Leviathan, or by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his political writings on the social contract.
Sociology
Since the emergence of the social sciences, authority has become a subject of research in a variety of empirical settings: the family, small groups, intermediate organizations such as schools, churches, armies, industries and bureaucracies, and society-wide or inclusive organizations, ranging from the most primitive tribal society to the modern nation-state and intermediate organization. The definition of authority in contemporary social science remains a matter of debate. Max Weber in his essay "Politics as a Vocation" divided legitimate authority into three types. Others, like Howard Bloom, suggest a parallel between authority and respect/reverence for ancestors.
The political authority in the British context can be traced to James VI and I of Scotland who wrote two political treatise called Basilikon Doron and which advocated his right to rule on the basis of the concept of the divine right of kings, a theological concept that has basis in multiple religions, but in this case, Christianity, tracing this right to the apostolic succession. The King in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth states are considered the foundations of judicial, legislative and executive authority.
The understanding of political authority and the exercise of political powers in the American context traces back to the writings of the Founding Fathers, including the arguments put forward in The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the First Chief Justice of the United StatesJohn Jay, and later speeches by the 16th President of the United StatesAbraham Lincoln. "Our government rests in public opinion," President Abraham Lincoln said in 1856. In his 1854 Speech at Peoria, Illinois, Lincoln espoused "the proposition that each man should do precisely as he pleases with all which is exclusively his own," a principle existing "at the foundation of the sense of justice." This sense of personal ownership and stewardship was integral to the practice of self-government as Abraham Lincoln saw it by a Republican nation and its people. This was because, as Abraham Lincoln also declared, "No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent."
