Authority

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This article is about authority as a concept of political philosophy. For other
uses, see Authority (disambiguation).
Authority is the right to exercise power, which can be formalized by a state and
exercised by way of judges, appointed executives of government, or the
ecclesiastical or priestly appointed representatives of a God or other deities.

A governing body may be labelled an authority e.g. the Puerto Rico Electric Power
Authority or the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Authority can also
mean the right to complete an action or execute an order.

In government, authority is often used interchangeably with power. However, their

meanings differ: while power is the ability to order or accomplish a goal or to
influence others, authority refers to a claim of legitimacy, the justification and
right to exercise that power. For example, while a mob may have the power to punish
a criminal by beating or lynching, the rule of law indicates that only a court of
law has the authority to determine and refer a criminal for punishment. In this
sense, authority is a matter of not only the ability or power to make decisions,
but the right to make these decisions and execute them with commensurate power.
Appropriate authority is the basis of good government in the republican conception
of government, which finds much of its theoretical origins in ancient Rome.

Contents
1 History
2 Political philosophy
3 Sociology
4 The United States
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
History
Ancient understandings of authority trace back to Rome and draw later from Catholic
(Thomistic) thought and other traditional understandings. In more modern terms,
forms of authority include transitional authority exhibited in for example
Cambodia,[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]

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.[4] 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 Koj�ve 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,[5] 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 (parental authority), small
groups (informal authority of leadership), intermediate organizations such as
schools, churches, armies, industries and bureaucracies (organizational and
bureaucratic authorities), and society-wide or inclusive organizations, ranging
from the most primitive tribal society to the modern nation-state and intermediate
organization (political authority).

The definition of authority in contemporary social science remains a matter of

debate. Max Weber in his essay "Politics as a Vocation" (1919) divided legitimate
authority into three types. Others, like Howard Bloom, suggest a parallel between
authority and respect/reverence for ancestors.[6]

The United States

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 States John Jay, and later
speeches by the 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. "Our
government rests in public opinion," President Abraham Lincoln said in 1856.[7] 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."[8] 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."[9]

See also
Authority bias
Authority (management)
Authority (sociology)
Anti-authoritarianism
Appeal to authority
Auctoritas
Authoritarianism
Cognitive authority
Milgram experiment
Petty authority
Religious authority
References
Widyono, Benny (Oct 2014). "United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
(UNTAC)".
Krause, George A. (2010). Durant, Robert F., ed. "Legislative Delegation of
Authority to Bureaucratic Agencies". The Oxford Handbook of American Bureaucracy.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 524.
Glanville, Luke (2016). Bellamy, Alex J., ed. "Sovereignty". The Oxford Handbook
of the Responsibility to Protect. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 153.
Laitin, David (1998). "Toward a Political Science Discipline: Authority Patterns
Revisited". Comparative Political Studies. 31 (4): 423�443.
Cristi, Renato (2005). Hegel on Freedom and Authority. Cardiff, Wales: University
of Wales Press.
Bloom, Howard (2010). The Genius of the Beast: a radical re-vision of capitalism.
Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-59102-754-6. To validate an
argument, we refer back to our ancestors - or to someone who, while still alive,
has already garnered the sort of authority only ancestors normally have.
Guelzo, Allen C. (2012). Lincoln Speeches. New York, NY: Penguin Books. pp. xxi.
Guelzo, Allen C. (2012). Lincoln Speeches. New York, NY: Penguin Books. p. 47.
Guelzo, Allen C. (2012). Lincoln Speeches. New York, NY: Penguin Books. p. 48.
Further reading
Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception (2005)
Hannah Arendt, "Authority in the Twentieth Century." Review of Politics (1956)
Hannah Arendt, On Violence (1970)
J�zef Maria Bochenski, Was ist Autorit�t? (1974)
Renato Cristi, Hegel on Freedom and Authority (2005)
Carl Joachim Friedrich, Authority. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1958)
Carl Joachim Friedrich, An Introduction to Political Theory: Twelve Lectures at
Harvard. New York: Harper & Row (1967)
Carl Joachim Friedrich, Tradition and Authority. London: Macmillan (1972)
Robert E. Goodin (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Political Science (2011)
Patrick Hayden, Hannah Arendt: Key Concepts (2014), esp. Chapter 8
Alexandre Koj�ve, "The Notion of Authority" (2014)
Rafael Domingo Osle, Auctoritas (1999)
Gail Radford, The Rise of the Public Authority: Statebuilding and Economic
Development in Twentieth-Century America (2013)
Carl Schmitt, Der Begriff des Politischen [The Concept of the Political] (1932)
Max Weber, Economy and Society (1922)
Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation (1919)
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Authority
"Political Obligation". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Appeal to Authority Breakdown
Christiano, Tom. "Authority". In Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.
Four essays published in the International Journal of Philosophical Studies from
the Robert Papazian Essay Prize Competition on Authority
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
GND: 4003990-0 LCCN: sh85009789 NDL: 00565509
Categories: AuthorityGroup processesPhilosophy of lawPolitical philosophySocial
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