Power, Authority and Legitimacy

Power is the ability to make others act as you wish, but power alone is unstable: a ruler who relies only on force must watch every subject. Authority is power that people accept as rightful, and legitimacy is the belief that a ruler has the right to rule. The German sociologist Max Weber described three sources of legitimate authority. Traditional authority rests on custom, as with hereditary kings. Charismatic authority rests on devotion to an extraordinary leader, such as a revolutionary hero.

Legal-rational authority rests on rules and offices, so people obey the office rather than the person. Most modern states rely mainly on legal-rational authority, yet they often borrow from the other two, through royal ceremonies or popular leaders. When legitimacy collapses, even powerful armies and police may fail to keep a government in office, as many revolutions show.