The right to issue commands without that right being questioned. In effect, authority is a form of legitimate power, in that those subject to it voluntarily consent to its exercise. Sources of authority are rational-legal (eg elections, qualifications), tradition (eg the monarchy), and charisma (eg authoritarian rulers such as Hitler). Included in most cases of authority is the right to use coercion against those who do not consent.
In politics, authority (Latin auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to potestas and imperium) is often used interchangeably with the term "power". For example whilst a mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment.
Authority topics
Divine authority
Understanding the expectations and desires of one who is divine, and (in many monotheistic traditions) transcendant, infinite and omniscient requires some kind of act of receiving direction.
To believers, gods are almost always considered to have an authority exceeding that of any human, deriving from their greater knowledge, power, and wisdom than humans and, in many traditions, their role as creator rather than creature. The God of the Abrahamic religions is the final authority for all truth and reality, and rules all of creation. The question of authority in such a system is "what does God want from me and how do I know this."
For example, in Christianity, the act of observing the communion comes from a combination of direct divine command, approved apostolic example recorded in scripture, and necessary inference.
Sociology and philosophy
The word authority derives from the Latin word "auctoritas", used in Roman law as opposed to potestas.
In Weberian sociology, authority comprises a particular type of power. The dominant usage comes from functionalism, defining authority as power which is recognised as legitimate and justified by both the powerful and the powerless. Weber divided authority into three types:
Traditional authority which simply derives from long-established habits and social structures. Modern societies depend on legal-rational authority. Charismatic authority is authority derived from "the gift of grace," that is, when the leader claims that his authority derives from a "higher power" (e.g. God or natural law or rights) or "inspiration" that is superior to the validity of either traditional or rational-legal authority, and followers accept this and are willing to follow this higher or inspired authority in the place of the authority that they have hitherto been following. Charismatic authority sometimes becomes the inspiration of social movements or revolution against a system of traditional or legal-rational authority. Charismatic authority never lasts long (even when successful) and it inevitably gives way to either traditional or to legal-rational authority.Conflict theory
Within conflict theory, "authority" is used both in the same sense as Weber's functionalist definition above and in a rather different sense. The latter is based on the observation that power is almost never endorsed in a moral sense by those who do not have it, and therefore this school of thought defines "authority" as power which is so institutionalised that it is largely unquestioned.
Obedience to authority seems thoroughly ingrained in most of the population: the Milgram experiment showed that over 60% of a sample of Americans demonstrated willingness to severely torture another person when given orders from an appropriate authority figure.
Example of evolving authority: France
As an example of the development of legal-rational authority, consider the history of France. In medieval times a king ruled simply because he was the king (i.e., he held traditional inherited authority), but by the 17th century it became necessary to invent a doctrine claiming that Louis XIV ruled by "divine right"; in other words, to justify Louis' authority by a rational claim to his appointment by a legitimate superior (God). This served for another century but was threatened by the rival claim made to legal-rational authority by the various legislative bodies of the early years of the French Revolution. This legal-rational authority was eclipsed by the charismatic authority held by Robespierre and his cohort during the Reign of Terror. Next, Robespierre's authority was replaced by the legal-rational authority of the Directory. Finally, authority in revolutionary France was a mix of the legal-rational and charismatic types during the Consulate and First Empire (the charisma in this last case being that of Napoleon Bonaparte).
The Restoration (1814) marked a return to traditional authority but now with elements of the legal-rational as well, at least until the ascent of Charles X. The Revolution of 1848 passed rapidly into a legal-rational mode, falling ultimately to the Second Empire, which saw a blend of all three modes: the government Napoleon III retained a constitution of sorts and, in his person, he combined the Napoleonic charismatic claims with what was now a certain element of tradition, a Bonapartist dynasty to rival the Bourbons.
The complex pattern can be continued practically down to the present day, with a steadily diminishing role for traditional authority, except insofar as republicanism itself has become a tradition.
Government agency
An authority can also be a government agency set up with a particular competence and is able to deal with all matters within its charter, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and a Port Authority. See Special-purpose district and Public Authority.
Institutional authority
The United States Supreme Court is an example of an institution that exercises its power largely through the broad and longstanding acceptance of its institutional authority. The Supreme Court's power rests almost entirely on its moral and institutional authority.
The Supreme Court relies on the executive branch of the government to implement and abide by its decisions;
At the time, many Georgians were burning Cherokee homes and attacking Cherokee citizens.
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