What is the meaning of political authority?

political legitimacy
Political authority grants members of a government the right to rule over citizens using coercion if necessary (i.e., political legitimacy), while imposing an obligation for the citizens to obey government orders (i.e., political obligation).

What is the relation between sovereignty and legitimate authority?

In political theory, sovereignty is a substantive term designating supreme legitimate authority over some polity. In international law, sovereignty is the exercise of power by a state. De jure sovereignty refers to the legal right to do so; de facto sovereignty refers to the factual ability to do so.

How does power gain legitimacy and become legitimate authority?

In political science, legitimacy usually is understood as the popular acceptance and recognition by the public of the authority of a governing régime, whereby authority has political power through consent and mutual understandings, not coercion.

What do you understand by legitimate authority?

A legitimate authority is one which is entitled to have its decisions and rules accepted and followed by others. In the case of law, people feel a personal responsibility to comply voluntarily with those laws that are created and enforced by legitimate legal authorities.

What is legitimate authority?

Legitimate authority is the normative power to govern, where a normative power is the ability to change the normative situation of others. Correlatively, when one has the normative power to govern others, these others face a normative liability to be governed.

Why is legitimate authority important?

Legitimacy is a crucial aspect of all power relations. Without legitimacy, power is exerted through coercion; with legitimacy, power can be exerted through voluntary or quasi-voluntary compliance.

What is the difference between power and legitimacy?

Authority without legitimacy is power. Power is a legal power or capacity. It may or may not enjoy a popular recognition and acceptance as a just and rightful power. Legitimacy alone can secure and guarantee the acceptance and obedience of power as authority.

Can there be authority without legitimacy?

There cannot be authority without legitimacy i.e. recognition on the part of the people upon whom the authority is exercised. The people recognise that the power being used, decisions or commands being enforced by the authority-holder is just and beneficial for them. Legitimacy transforms power into authority.

What is power of authority?

Power is a legal power or capacity. It may or may not enjoy a popular recognition and acceptance as a just and rightful power. Legitimacy alone can secure and guarantee the acceptance and obedience of power as authority.

What is a source of weakness for the authority?

Weak legitimacy is a source of weakness for the authority. Absence of legitimacy reduces authority to power. Legitimacy ensures acceptance, obedience and respect of authority and makes it productive of desired results.