Concepts in Political Theory: Power and Authority

The study of politics is intrinsically linked to three key concepts: power, authority, and legitimacy. Politics is often viewed as a contest for power, making it inseparable from the field of Political Science. Robert A. Dahl highlights that power, influence, and authority are central to understanding political dynamics. He explains, “Power, influence, and authority are familiar terms used by both ordinary individuals and political actors alike. We frequently hear references to the power to govern, the power of the purse, political power, spiritual power, economic power, national power, judicial power, presidential power, black power, student power, and state power.”

Meaning and Definitions of Power

The term “power” was derived from the Latin word “imperium”, meaning “to be able”. Thus, the concept of power is related to one’s ability to influence others’ behaviour and action.

Definitions of Power

There is no unanimity among scholars regarding the definition of power. Some definitions of power provided by eminent scholars are highlighted below: In the definition given by Max Weber, power is “The chance of a man or a number of men to realize their own will in a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action.

R.H. Tawney defines power as “the capacity of an individual or group of individuals to modify the conduct of others in the manner which one desires”.

Bertrand Russell regards power as “the production of intended effects”.

M.G. Smith defines power as “the ability to act effectively over people and things using means, ranging from persuasion to coercion.

Samuel Beer writes, “One person exercises power over another when he intentionally acts in such a manner as to affect predictably the actions of others.

For George Schwarzenberger, ” If A confronts B with the prospects of shifting his behaviour, A is attempting to exercise power over B.”

A review of the scholarly definitions of power mentioned above reveals that power is one’s capacity to influence others’ behaviour and actions to meet intended interests. This is clear in the words of David Easton: “Power is the relationship in which one person or a group can determine the actions of another in the direction of the former’s ends.” Power is used to achieve one’s ends. Therefore, Edward Shills remarks, ‘Power is the ability to influence the behaviour of others following one’s ends.” Power is a central theme in politics.

Characteristics of Power

Power is a central theme in the study of politics and possesses several distinct characteristics. Some of its key features are outlined below:

1. Action-Oriented Nature: Power is directed towards achieving specific goals and involves deliberate, calculative actions. As Anthony Giddens observes, “Power is the ability to make a difference, to change things from what they would otherwise have been. ‘A’ exercises power over ‘B’ when ‘A’ affects ‘B’ in a way contrary to ‘B’s interests.”
2. Relational Aspect: Power exists as a relationship between those who exercise it and those over whom it is exercised. Morgenthau argues that “power may comprise anything that establishes and maintains control of man over man,” encompassing all forms of social relationships, from physical violence to subtle psychological influence.
3. Element of Coercion: Power often involves the use or threat of punishment. Robert A. Dahl captures this by stating, “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do.”
4. Intangibility: Unlike wealth, power is not a tangible asset. It is realized through its exercise. Hans Morgenthau defines power as “a psychological relationship between its exercisers and those upon whom it is exercised,” emphasizing its impact on the minds and actions of others.
5. Unequal Distribution: Power is not shared equally in society. Political elites tend to hold more power, while the masses remain on the periphery. However, power is dynamic. For instance, during the Cold War, the USA and USSR shared nearly equal power. With the USSR’s decline, the world became unipolar, dominated by US hegemony. This shows that power, its actors, and their relationships change over time.
6. Relativity of Power: Power is not absolute but depends on its acceptance by social norms, laws, and sanctions. For power to function, there must be individuals willing to obey. Without this compliance, power loses its effectiveness.
7. Sanctions and Legitimacy: Power is reinforced by sanctions and the ability to influence the actions and behavior of others. The state, in particular, distinguishes itself from other political entities by maintaining the exclusive right to impose severe penalties, including physical punishment or death, under legitimate conditions. Thus, power is supported by legitimate sanctions.

Sources of Power

Scholars have identified several sources of power. Some of the major sources are outlined below:

1. Force and Coercion: Mao Tse-Tung famously stated that “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” emphasizing that power often stems from the fear generated by force. Coercion, therefore, stands as a significant source of power.
2. Knowledge: Knowledge is a primary source of power, as noted by Francis Bacon in his famous phrase, “Knowledge is power.” Expertise within an organization often confers legitimate authority, enabling individuals to hold influential positions such as managers or executives. Experience and skills further amplify this power.
3. Organizations: Organizations act as vital sources of power, providing a collective platform that strengthens the influence of leaders. For example, political parties enhance the power of their leaders through popular support. Gaetano Mosca observed that ruling elites concentrate power and authority through organizational strength.
4. Authority: Authority is a crucial source of power, defined as “the right to command and direct, to be heard and obeyed.” Legitimate authority grants individuals or groups power to govern. For instance, political parties winning elections gain the authority to rule, thereby exercising legitimate power over society.
5. Human Resources: Power also depends on the support of human resources—individuals and groups who cooperate with or assist the ruler in implementing policies. A leader’s effectiveness hinges on the loyalty and assistance provided by the people they govern.
6. Status and Resources: Robert A. Dahl argues that individuals with substantial resources enjoy greater power. Economic wealth or social status enhances one’s ability to wield influence. A charismatic personality can similarly elevate a leader’s ability to command authority.
7. Material Resources: Access to material resources—property, economic assets, natural resources, and control over media or infrastructure—also serves as a significant source of power. These resources place individuals in influential positions within the social or political system.
8. Cultural Supremacy: Antonio Gramsci highlights the role of cultural supremacy in establishing power. The cultural dominance of Western powers, for example, has allowed them to exert hegemonic influence globally.
9. Popular Support: Popular support, or the will of the people, is another key source of power. Mahatma Gandhi emphasized that the legitimacy of a leader’s power is often derived from the people’s will, rather than from force. This demonstrates that power can emerge from a variety of sources, with individuals often drawing on multiple sources to maintain authority.

Forms of Power

Scholars have classified power into various forms. Below are some key classifications:

Crespigny’s Six Categories of Power:

• Coercive Power: Based on the use of force or threats. As Crespigny explains, coercive power relies on fear to influence others.
• Inductive Power: Power achieved by offering something attractive or valuable to others. For instance, a leader may provide benefits to gain influence.
• Reactional Power: In this dynamic, one person obeys another, believing that compliance will lead to a better outcome or that disobedience will result in punishment.
• Impedimental Power: Power exerted through constraints. For example, a bureaucrat may withhold promotions to influence subordinates’ behavior.
• Attrahent Power: Also known as charismatic power, this form is based on admiration or attraction to someone’s personality or qualities.
• Persuasive Power: Derived from the ability to persuade others through rational or irrational arguments, convincing them to follow certain actions.

French and Raven’s Five Categories of Power:

• Coercive Power: The use of force or threats to compel obedience. If an individual disobeys, they face punitive measures, such as punishment.
• Reward Power: Power achieved by offering rewards, such as bonuses or incentives. For example, a company executive may reward employees to increase efficiency.
• Legitimate Power: Derived from formal structures like laws or constitutions. An elected leader, such as a Prime Minister, exercises legitimate power based on legal authority.
• Referent Power: Power based on charisma, popularity, or personal appeal. For instance, a celebrity may have significant influence over their followers.
• Expert Power: Stemming from specialized knowledge or expertise. Those with expertise in a particular field can command influence through their skills and knowledge.

Max Weber’s Three Categories of Power:

• Political Power: Highly institutionalized, political power involves control over state resources, including labor and wealth. Political power implies sovereignty and is exercised by state functionaries. According to Allen Ball, political power is central to resolving conflicts and influencing behavior through sanctions.
  • Formal Political Power: Held by the legislature, executive, and judiciary, which are constitutionally empowered to govern.
  • Informal Political Power: Exerted by political parties, pressure groups, and interest groups, which influence state decisions and policies.
• Economic Power: The control over economic resources, such as wealth, production, and distribution. Large industrialists, landlords, and multinational corporations wield significant economic power, influencing both markets and political systems. In Marxist theory, the class controlling production also wields state power. F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman warn that the combination of economic and political power threatens individual liberty.
• Social Power: Certain societal groups enjoy special status due to their honor or prestige. These social elites command influence and often take leadership roles in decision-making, concentrating social power in their hands. Weber emphasizes the importance of social power, noting that elites often exert control over the rest of society.

These classifications highlight the diverse ways in which power operates across political, economic, and social contexts. Each form of power plays a crucial role in shaping relationships and societal structures.

Apart from the above, the classification of power entails some other forms of power. Some of these forms of power are highlighted below:

Ideological Power

Ideological power stems from the influence of ideology, which scholars define as a systematic set of ideas used to justify a particular social or political order. Ideologies serve as guiding principles for shaping and maintaining societal structures. For example, Western nations like the USA promote liberal capitalist and democratic ideologies, extending their influence globally through the spread of these beliefs. During the Cold War, the USA and the USSR garnered support from nations aligned with their respective ideologies, cementing their global influence. Antonio Gramsci noted that states often use ideological apparatuses to establish hegemony. Various ideologies, such as Marxism, Capitalism, Nazism, Fascism, Militarism, Communism, and Populism, shape power dynamics by creating ideological leadership and influencing political systems.

Psychological Power

Psychological power is closely tied to public opinion and plays a key role in shaping moral leadership. By boosting the morale of both the international community and domestic citizens, a political leader can effectively advance a nation’s interests. For instance, Indian leadership recently achieved a diplomatic victory by securing international recognition of certain Pakistan-based terrorists as global threats at the United Nations Security Council, demonstrating the use of psychological power in international diplomacy.

Method of Exercising Power

Exercising power involves various methods. Some key methods used to exercise power are outlined below:

1. Persuasion: This is one of the most effective and commonly used methods of exercising power. Persuasion allows individuals or nations to influence others without resorting to force or punishment. In international relations, state actors use persuasion to promote and protect national interests. As scholars suggest, “the art of persuasion consists in clearly defining and logically explaining a particular issue or dispute to other nations.” Through persuasion, one nation seeks to convince others to support its cause on international platforms.
2. Rewards: Rewards involve offering material or non-material benefits to others in exchange for fulfilling the interests of the reward-giver. These rewards can be psychological, economic, or political, designed to win support. On the international stage, developed nations often provide financial assistance to developing countries as a way to exercise influence. For example, countries like the USA offer economic packages to nations such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh. These rewards, including military aid, technology, weapons, training, and loans, help provider nations exert influence over recipient countries to advance their own national interests.
3. Punishment: Punishment is another method used to exercise power, typically by more powerful nations. Punishments may include economic sanctions, trade restrictions, or policy norms imposed on non-compliant or hostile states. Powerful nations often threaten punishment to force other states into compliance, and if persuasion fails, they may escalate to punitive actions. For example, the USA’s Operation Desert Storm (January 17, 1991 – February 28, 1991) was a military response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, aimed at altering Iraq’s behavior after diplomatic warnings went unheeded.
4. Force: While punishment serves as a preventive measure, the actual use of physical violence constitutes force. Force is the practical execution of threats, as seen when a nation engages in military action. For instance, the USA’s Operation Desert Storm transitioned from a threat of punishment to the use of military force against Iraq. Force, often seen in warfare, is employed when a state uses violence to secure its national interests.

Authority

The term “authority” is widely used in political science. The term “authority” is derived from the Latin word “auctor” or “auctoritos” meaning “advice” or “counsel”. Simply authority refers to “the right to command or to give an ultimate decision”. In the following sections, we will focus on some of the definitions of an authority advanced by various scholars.

Definitions of Authority

MacIver remarks, “Authority is often defined as being power, the power to command obedience.”

Accordingly to Herbert A. Simon, “Authority is the power to make decisions which guide the actions of another. It is a relationship between individuals, one superior and the other subordinate. The superior frames and transmits decisions with expectations that they will be accepted by subordinates. The subordinates accept such decisions and their conduct is determined by them.”

Jouvenel defines authority as the “ability of man to get his proposal accepted.” Robert A. Dahl conceptualizes authority in these words: “A” commands “B” and “B” feels “A” has a perfect right to do and which he has a complete obligation to obey. Power of this kind is often said to be legitimate. But when “B” feels “A” has no right to ask him to obey, which he has no obligation to obey, and power perhaps of this kind is often said to be illegitimate. Legitimate power is often called authority. An important element of authority is legitimacy.

Carl J. Friedrich defines authority as “the embodiment of reason and depends on the capacity of reasoned elaboration.” According to Michels, “Authority is the capacity, innate or acquired for exercising ascendancy over a group.”

Max Weber writes that authority is “the chance of commands being obeyed by a specifiable group of people. Legitimate authority is that which is recognised as legitimate and justified by both the ruler and the ruled.”

Thus, authority refers to legitimate power. When power is exercised legitimately, then it is called authority. Authority emanates, according to Hannah Arendt, when command and obedience come into a relationship. S.E. Finer holds that here the ‘command’ implies a claim to be obeyed’, and ‘obedience is the ‘recognition of the claim that it is right. So, without legitimacy, authority does not exist. Finer shows that “fear is certainly the father of power, but authority is its mother. To inculcate the population the belief that their rulers have the right to demand obedience and their corresponding duty to give it is the principal art of government.

Characteristics of Authority

The following are the key characteristics of authority:

1. Legitimacy: Authority is inherently legitimate power. Legitimacy is its defining characteristic.
2. Connection to Power: Authority and power are closely related. While authority is legitimate power, power without legitimacy cannot be considered authority.
3. Rational Basis: Authority is grounded in reason. As Frederick states, “The man who has authority possesses something that I would describe as the capacity for reasoned elaboration, for giving convincing reasons for what he does or proposes to have others do.” When power is exercised reasonably, it gains acceptance and transforms into authority.
4. Accountability: Authority entails accountability. For example, in a democracy, elected leaders are accountable to the citizens who grant them authority.

Basis of Authority

Authority is grounded in various bases:

1. Traditional Foundations: Authority often arises from traditional customs, beliefs, practices, and principles. These historically accepted norms provide the foundation for authority, making it culturally and socially sanctioned.
2. Rational-Legal Foundations: Authority is also based on formal procedures, laws, and constitutions. This is the basis for rational-legal authority, where power is legitimized through established legal frameworks and procedures.
3. Charismatic Foundations: Charismatic authority is derived from an individual’s exceptional qualities, charisma, and knowledge. Such individuals are viewed as extraordinary and capable of exercising power legitimately due to their unique attributes.
4. Institutional Foundations: Authority is supported by institutional structures such as organizations. According to Max Weber, bureaucracy exemplifies legal-rational authority, operating under established rules and laws. Bureaucratic systems function impartially as per the legal framework of the state, and elected representatives gain authority through legally administered elections, empowering them to create laws.

In summary, authority is primarily founded on traditions, charisma, and formal rule of law.

Relationship between Authority and Power

Authority and power are closely linked, but they have distinct characteristics. Authority is essentially legitimate power. Weldon defines authority as “the power exercised with the general approval of the people concerned,” suggesting that power requires popular support or legitimacy to be considered authority. Some scholars, however, make a distinction between power and authority. Authority is seen as a form of regulated behavior that does not rely on coercion, incentives, or propaganda. According to C.J. Friedrich, “Authority is not a kind of power, but something that accompanies it.”

Authority, being ‘accepted power,’ is inherently legitimate. Robert A. Dahl notes, “It is far more economical to rule by authority than by means of coercion.” Nietzsche similarly views authority as “something which creates power, but is not itself a power.”

Distinguishing between power and authority can be challenging because authority cannot exist without power. When power is accompanied by legitimacy, it transforms into authority. Thus, power and authority are closely related. Herbert A. Simon describes authority as “the power to make decisions that guide the actions of another.” It is a relationship where one individual, superior to another, makes decisions with the expectation that they will be accepted and followed by subordinates, making authority a form of legitimately exercised power.

Despite their close connection, authority and power differ in several key ways. Authority is often viewed as ‘positive’ power, enabling autonomy and based on will. In contrast, power is considered ‘negative,’ associated with constraint and coercion. However, these distinctions are not absolute, as both power and authority share some common elements. Lasswell summarizes this by stating, “Power becomes authority when it is legalized. The capacity to issue orders is power, whereas authority is the point at which decisions are made.” This implies that legitimate or legalized power is what constitutes authority.

Conclusion

Politics is often viewed as a struggle for power, with power, authority, and legitimacy forming the core concepts in its study. Power has been defined in various ways, such as R.H. Tawney’s description: “the capacity of an individual or group to modify the conduct of others in the manner desired.” Power is action-oriented and used to achieve specific ends. It comes from different sources; for example, Mao Tse-tung famously stated that “power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

Scholars have categorized power in various forms. Crespigny, for instance, identifies six types: coercive, inductive, reactional, impedimental, attrahent, and persuasive power. Max Weber categorizes power into three broad areas: political, economic, and social. Exercising power often involves methods such as persuasion, rewards, punishment, and force.

Authority, on the other hand, is understood as legitimate power. In his classification of authority, Max Weber identifies three types: rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic authority. Each of these forms of authority is crucial in understanding how political power is legitimized and exercised in different systems.

References

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