Power, Authority and Legitimacy
Power, Authority and Legitimacy is the conceptual heart of the course. It tests whether you can distinguish the capacity to make others act (power) from the recognised right to do so (authority), and whether you can apply Max Weber and Steven Lukes to Irish and international examples rather than reciting definitions.
Core rules and concepts
- Power is the ability to influence outcomes, directly or indirectly. Authority is power that is accepted as legitimate by those subject to it. Legitimacy is the belief that a ruler or institution has the right to rule.
- Weber's three types of authority: traditional (custom, heredity), charismatic (personal qualities), and rational-legal (rules, office, law). Modern states rest mainly on rational-legal authority.
- Lukes' three faces of power: (1) open decision-making; (2) non-decision-making - keeping issues off the agenda; (3) shaping preferences so people accept the status quo.
- Sources of power: coercive (force), economic (resources), ideological (ideas and media), and political (office, votes, organisation).
- Irish anchor: Article 6 of Bunreacht na hÉireann states that all powers of government derive from the people - a democratic legitimacy claim that underpins the Constitution.
Worked example
A government introduces emergency housing legislation limiting judicial review. Is it legitimate? It is legal if it passes constitutional scrutiny, but legitimacy is broader: Does it have an electoral mandate? Is it proportionate? Did affected groups have a voice? A strong answer separates legality, authority (does the office have the right?) and legitimacy (do people accept it?), and notes that courts can strike down laws that breach the Constitution.
Traps
- Treating power and authority as interchangeable.
- Defining legitimacy as popularity or as legality.
- Forgetting Lukes' second and third faces and analysing only visible decisions.
- Ignoring consent: authority collapses when legitimacy is withdrawn.