What is the basis of political authority?

Jennifer Baranowski

PHCC-104-SF3

Professor Nachum Turetzky, PhD

January 10, 2012

 

What is the basis of political authority?

 

     To live in a civilized world, citizens require rules that will ideally guide them in living amongst society. These guidelines will provide a structure and social order. Political authority would be what provides these guidelines; political authority would ideally be based on what is morally right and what is in the best interest of its people and society as a whole.

     Living in the Western world, our political authority is based on democracy. We either vote for what we deem is necessary to provide a fair and comfortable life for ourselves or we vote for representatives who will in turn vote for what they feel is the best decision for society. When we vote for those who represent us, we are allowing others to decide for us – we are consenting to political authority. Without our consent and without our willingness to follow the laws that the "authority" provides, there can be no political authority. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "the state's imposition of duties on the individual may occur only if the individual has consented to the states authority" (Christiano).

 

     Throughout history there have been examples of citizens who have not consented to political authority and in turn have facilitated change. There once was a time in American history when African-American citizens were treated unequally in the eyes of the law; this unequal treatment was permitted by the elected political authorities. One day, an African-American lady named Rosa Parks sat on a bus and refused to give up her seat to a Caucasian man. This caused a political and societal uproar because for years, laws (authority) had stated that black people were inferior to white. Only when people like Ms. Parks did not consent to what had always been the rule, did the voters and the political authority reevaluate. Authority is only effective when people agree to follow it.

 

     The basis of political authority is consent. There must be people who agree to follow it, otherwise, it is useless. In the Western world, we agree to the political authority that is formed when citizens have voted democratically. We vote for what we feel is morally right and what we believe will benefit us. It could also be said then, that aside from tacit consent, the basis of political authority comes from what a particular society deems is morally just and beneficial for its world.

Work Cited:
Christiano, Tom. "Authority." 2 July 2004. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/authority/. 5 January 2012.