BANKAL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Senior High School Department

Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City

In partial fulfillment
Of the requirements for
Politics and Governance

James S. Pino

January 16, 2017

Table of Contents

What Is an Ideology?...........................................................................................................3
Different Political Ideologies...............................................................................................3
What is Power?..................................................................................................................12
What is Authority? ...........................................................................................................13
What is the nature of power? ............................................................................................14
Different types of power....................................................................................................15
What is the nature of authority? ........................................................................................17
Type of authority................................................................................................................18
Bibliography......................................................................................................................22

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 1. What Is an Ideology?
An ideology is a set of beliefs that affects our outlook on the world. Our ideology is our
most closely held set of values and feelings, and it acts as the filter through which we see
everything and everybody. In fact, these beliefs are often so close to us that we do not
realize that they are there. We simply think that our beliefs are natural and obviously true.
Religion is one type of ideology, and religious belief affects a persons views.

Characteristics of an Ideology

Ideologies can vary greatly in the following ways:

Complexity: Some ideologies are very simple, whereas others, such as Marxism, are
quite detailed.
Example: Dont trust anybody over 30! was a simple ideology held by many
young Americans in the 1960s.

Consistency: Sometimes the ideas that constitute a single ideology conflict with one
another. Similarly, sometimes a persons views shift significantly over time.
Example: Benito Mussolini, the father of Italian fascism, was a communist when
he was younger. The fact that fascism was strongly anticommunist never seemed to
bother him.

Flexibility: Some elaborate ideologies, like some religious beliefs, allow almost no
wiggle room and have answers to all questions. Other ideologies have a great deal of
flexibility.
Example: The Catholic Catechism, which details the beliefs of the Catholic Church, is
thousands of pages long and covers almost every topic imaginable. There is little room
for individual interpretation. In contrast, the ideology of libertarianism encourages
individuals to make decisions for themselves.

2. Different Political Ideologies

Major Political Ideologies

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Over the millennia, political philosophers have expounded on a variety of political
ideologies, or ways governments and societies can be organized. Today, scholars
generally talk about five major political ideologies:
1. Anarchism
2. Absolutism
3. Liberalism
4. Conservatism
5. Socialism
These political ideologies are, for the most part, mutually exclusive. So, a liberal
government does not usually practice socialism, nor does an absolute ruler follow
liberalism. The five major political ideologies have played a key role in history by
shaping governments and political movements.

Anarchism
The belief that the best government is absolutely no government is known as anarchism.
This ideology argues that everything about governments is repressive and therefore must
be abolished entirely. A related ideology known as nihilism emphasizes that everything
both government and societymust be periodically destroyed in order to start anew.
Nihilists often categorically reject traditional concepts of morality in favor of violence
and terror. Anarchism and nihilism were once associated with socialism because many
anarchists and nihilists supported the socialists call for revolution and the complete
overhaul of government and society in the early to mid-twentieth century.
Example: Although neither violent nor strictly anarchist, members of the American
Libertarian Party believe that government should be so small that it hardly ever interferes
in citizens lives, thereby best preserving individual liberty.
Russia
Russia has had a long association with anarchism and nihilism. Many prominent
members of both movements were Russian, including Mikhail Bakunin, considered the
father of anarchism. Russian nihilists engaged in a number of terrorist attacks in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the assassination of Czar Alexander II
in 1881.

Absolutism
Traditionally, much of Western civilizations history was dominated by absolutism, the
belief that a single ruler should have control over every aspect of the government and of
the peoples lives. Absolute rulers had a variety of titles, including chieftain, king, shah,
pharaoh, emperor, sultan, and prince. In some cultures, the absolute ruler was seen as a
god in human form. Other peoples believed that their ruler had the divine right of kings,

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meaning that God had chosen the ruler to govern the rest. As a result, many cultures with
absolute rulers practiced some form of caesaropapism, the belief that the ruler is head of
both the governmental authority and the religious authority.
Example: In the Byzantine Empire, the double-headed eagle symbolized caesaropapism.
The two heads stood for church and state. This symbol clearly and graphically portrayed
the unity of religious and secular power in one person.

Advocates of Absolutism
A number of political philosophers have advocated absolutism. The Greek philosopher
Plato, for example, firmly believed that the best government would be run by a
benevolent absolute ruler who would have the peoples best interests at heart. English
philosopher Thomas Hobbes, meanwhile, was perhaps the most persuasive proponent of
absolutism. In his book Leviathan (1651), he argued that life without governments was
nasty, brutish, and short and that people must willingly submit to absolute rulerseven
tyrannical onesin order to live longer, more stable lives.

Absolutist Beliefs
Absolutism emphasizes:
A strong sense of order: Everything should be carefully structured, including
society. Disorder and chaos are generally considered to be dangerous.
A clear-cut law of nature (or law of God): This law must be obeyed. According to
this law, some people are inherently better than others. A natural hierarchy (a
power structure in which some people have authority over others) exists.
Therefore, the superior should rule the inferior. This general view is called elitism,
or elite theory.
The wisdom of traditional values and institutions: New ideas are considered
dangerous to the order of things.

Liberalism
In the early modern age of the Western world (beginning roughly in the early 1500s and
running for about 200 years), a number of changes occurred that led to new ideologies:
The European discovery of the Americas, the rise of Protestantism, the beginnings of the
free-market economy, and the early stages of the scientific revolution fundamentally
altered Europe. People began developing different ways of thinking to take account of
these changes.
Perhaps the most important of the new ideas is liberalism (also known as classical
liberalism). This type of liberalism, which began in England in the 1600s, differs from

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American liberalism. Classical liberalism developed when such thinkers as John Locke
(in his Second Treatise of Government in 1690) rethought the relationship between the
individual and society, as well theorized about the rights and responsibilities of the
individual. These ideas formed the foundation for many political systems still operating
today.

Liberalism in Action
During the French Revolution (17891799), the monarchy and much of the church were
destroyed, as were traditional laws and habits in different parts of the country. The
revolutionaries exalted reason, to the point of literally creating a temple to it (the
revolutionaries renamed the Church of Notre Dame in Paris the Temple of Reason) in
1793. But as a result of the revolution, France plunged into years of civil war and
violence. Only the emergence of Napoleonan authoritarian rulerbrought stability
back to the country.

Liberal Beliefs
Liberalism emphasizes:
Individualism: The individual takes priority over society.
Freedom: Individuals have the right to make choices for themselves. This freedom
is not absolute, and some behaviors, such as murder, are prohibited. Freedom of
religion is a particularly important freedom to come out of liberalism because so
many governments at the time were very closely tied to a particular religious
creed.
Equality: No person is morally or politically superior to others. Hierarchies are
rejected.
Rationalism: Humans are capable of thinking logically and rationally. Logic and
reason help us solve problems.
Progress: Traditions should not be kept unless they have value. New ideas are
helpful because they can lead to progress in the sciences, the economy, and
society.
The free market: Liberalism and capitalism go hand in hand. Liberals like the free
market because it more easily creates wealth, as opposed to traditional economies,
which often have extensive regulations and limits on which occupations people
can hold.
These basic characteristics of liberalism have led liberals to argue in favor of a limited
government, which draws its power from the people. In practice, this has meant favoring
a democratic government.

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Conservatism
Conservatism (also known as classical conservatism) began as a reaction against the
liberal ideas taking hold of Europe during the French Revolution in the late eighteenth
century. This type of conservatism differs from American conservatism. Edmund Burke, a
British member of Parliament, observed the early stages of the French Revolution with
great distress and predicted the violence and terror that would ensue. His book,
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), is one of the founding texts of classical
conservatism.
Burke and other conservatives attacked liberalism for many reasons. They argued that
liberalism destroyed tradition. In its rush to overturn the old and bring in the new,
liberalism and capitalism ruthlessly attacked traditional institutions and beliefs.

Conservative Beliefs
Conservatism emphasizes:
Stability: Stability is a precious thing, and change must be made gradually in
order to preserve it. Undermining stability is very dangerous because societies can
easily fall into chaos and violence. Classical liberals frequently called for
revolution, which opens the door to great turbulence, according to the classical
conservative view.
Concreteness: Liberalism is too abstract. It focuses on freedom and equality, not
on the concrete way people live every day.
Human fallibility: Liberalism overestimates human beings. Humans are
frequently ignorant, prejudiced, and irrational. By ignoring these defects,
liberalism becomes unrealistic.
Unique circumstances: There is no universal answer to the problems of society;
the circumstances are unique in each country.

Classical Conservatism and Democracy

Many early conservatives favored authoritarian government. In the aftermath of the
Napoleonic Wars (roughly 17921815), for example, most European governments
actively worked to stop the spread of liberalism and democracy. Nevertheless,
conservatives were not necessarily hostile to democracy. Generally these conservatives
argued that some sort of monarchy was necessary, but some were more open to popular
government. Burke, in particular, thought that limited democracy was a good form of
government for England, as long as it maintained the customs and mores it inherited from
its predecessors.

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Classical Conservatism Today
For the most part, classical conservatism has faded. Most people who label themselves
conservatives are more like American conservatives than classical ones. But there are still
some classical conservatives. Many of them in Europe have ties to old noble families, and
some advocate monarchism. Classical conservatives can also be found in other parts of
the world.

The chart below compares classical liberal views with classical conservative views on
several issues.

Classical Liberalism versus Classical Conservatism

Issue Liberalism Conservatism

Tradition Only valuable if it serves a Repository of acquired wisdom; collection of

purpose; we should not be
afraid to overturn tradition
Freedom Essential for human
flourishing; people are free to
do as they please as long as
they do not hurt others
Reason Relies on reason; the great
success of the scientific
revolution can be repeated in
human affairs if we use
reason
Free Valuable because it unleashes
Market tremendous economic growth
and efficiency, enriching
society
best knowledge from many years of practice
Excessive freedom is bad; lets people ignore
societal responsibilities and overlook social
customs
Thinks reason is fallible and prone to error;
human beings cannot discover the best way
to govern through thinking. Instead, we must
base our judgments and decisions on
experience.
Dangerous because it breaks down traditional
economic roles. The profit motive corrodes
customary mores and reduces all
relationships to cash transactions.

Socialism
Socialism arose as a response to the Industrial Revolution, which was the emergence of
technologies such as the steam engine and mass production. The Industrial Revolution
started in England in the last years of the eighteenth century and had spread to much of
Europe and America by the end of the nineteenth century. It caused major upheavals: In a

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very short time, many people were forced to abandon agricultural ways of life for the
modern mechanized world of factories.
Early versions of socialism were put forward in Europe in the first part of the nineteenth
century (these versions are often dubbed utopian socialism), but truly influential
socialist theories did not emerge until industrialization expanded in the mid-nineteenth
century. Karl Marx is the best-known theorist of socialism. Along with Friedrich Engels,
Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) as a call to revolution. Other prominent
socialists thinkers included Karl Kautsky, Vladimir Lenin, and Antonio Gramsci.

Socialist Beliefs
Socialism emphasizes:
Collectivism: Human beings are social by nature, and society should respect this.
Individualism is poisonous.
Public ownership: Society, not individuals, should own the property.
Central economic planning: The government plans the economy; there is no free
market.
Economic equality: All citizens have roughly the same level of prosperity.

Class Warfare
According to socialists, liberalism fails to live up to its promises of freedom and equality.
Socialists blame the free market for liberalisms failings. Under a capitalist system,
money and means of production are the measures of power. The haves (the bourgeoisie,
in Marxs terms) and the have-nots (whom Marx calls the proletariat) are locked into a
fight that Marx called class warfare. Because they control the money and means of
production, the bourgeoisie have the power and thus are winning the fight. The rich use
the government to further their control and to increase their power over the lower, poorer
classes, so people are neither free nor equal.

The Evolution of Socialism

Socialism evolved in a variety of ways. Communism and democratic socialism are the
two most prominent evolutions of socialism.
Communism: An authoritarian and revolutionary approach to achieving socialism. As an
ideology, communism emphasizes a classless society in which all members jointly share
the means and output of production. The regimes of the Soviet Union and communist
China embody this ideology. Communists such as Vladimir Lenin, who became the first
premier of the Soviet Union in 1917, argued that people can and must make the transition
to socialism quickly rather than waiting for it to evolve. Authoritarian and violent

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measures are often required because the defenders of capitalism will fight ferociously to
stop socialism from coming into being.

Communism Today
With the fall of communist regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe, communism has been
in retreat for most of the 1990s and 2000s. There are, for example, fewer communist
movements around the world than during the Cold War. But there are still several major
communist regimes, including the governments of North Korea and Cuba.

Democratic socialism: A peaceful and democratic approach to achieving socialism. As an

ideology, democratic socialism also emphasizes a classless society in which all members
jointly share the means and output of production. But unlike communism, democratic
socialism attempts to achieve its goals peacefully via the democratic processes.
Democratic socialists reject the need for immediate transition to socialism in favor of a
gradualist approach, achieved by working within a democratic government. Economic
inequalities should be remedied through a welfare state, a system that provides aid to the
poor and help to the unemployed.

Democratic Socialism Today

Democratic socialism has been quite successful in western Europe and Scandinavia.
Many governments there have extensive welfare systems that have remained largely
intact even when democratic socialists are voted out of office. Dem-ocratic socialist
parties exist in many democracies around the world. Germanys Social Democratic Party
and Britains Labor Party are contemporary examples of successful political parties
heavily influenced by democratic socialism.

Quick Reference
Ideologies are the sets of basic beliefs about the political, economic, social and cultural
affairs held by the majority of people within as society.

Absolutism. System where the rulers have unlimited control.

Anarchism. Society without government, laws, police or other authority. System of self-
control.

Aristocracy. The privilege of social class whose members possess disproportionately

large
percentage of society's wealth, prestige and political influence.

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Autocracy. Supreme political power is in the hands of one person whose decision are
unregulated.

Capitalism. Right-wing political system where the principle means of production and
distribution are in private hands.

Communism. Extreme left-wing ideology based on the revolutionary socialist teachings

of Marx. Collective ownership and a planned economy. Each should work
to their capability and receive according to their needs.

Conservatism. Governmental system where the existing institution are maintained,

emphasizing free-enterprise and minimal governmental intervention.

Democracy. Government by the people usually through elected representatives.

Dictatorship. Government by a single person with absolute control over the resources of
the state.

Egalitarianism. Belief where all citizens have equal rights and privileges.

Fascism. Extreme right-wing ideology where the existing social order is protected by the
forcible suppression of the working class.

Imperialism. The extension of power and rule beyond established geographical

boundaries.

Liberalism. Representative government, free-speech, abolition of class privilege and state

protection of the individual.

Marxism. Developed by Marx and Engles, it proposes that all is subject to change and
resistance to change necessitates the overthrow of the system through class
struggle.

Maoism. Interpretation of Marxist communism emphasizing the development of

agriculture.

Monarchy. A form of rule in which the head of state is a King or Queen.

Nationalism. The unification of the state and release from foreign rule.

Oligarchy. A system of government in which virtually all power is held a small number
of wealthy people who shape policy to benefit themselves.

Populism. Collective noun for the ideologies which demand the redistribution of political
power and economic leadership to the 'common people'.

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Socialism. Left-wing political system where the principle means of production,
distribution and exchange are in common ownership.

Theocracy. Rule by the church.

Totalitarianism. Government control of all activities.

Trotskyism. Form of Marxism incorporating the concept of permanent revolution.

THE LEFT
Liberty. The freedom of speech and the right to dissent.
Equality. A classless society with the redistribution of wealth through a welfare state.
Fraternity. The communal brotherhood, working and living as one.

THE RIGHT
Authority. The preservation of order through an evolved authority.
Hierarchy. The continuation of the existing social order.
Property. The right to private ownership.

1. What is Power?

Power is related to taking of decisions and for the implementation of those

decisions. No organisation, whatever may its nature be, can do its duty or achieve
objectives without power.

Robert Dahl in many of his works has defined power and analysed its various
aspects. In his A Preface to Democratic Theory Dahl calls power a type of
relationship in respect of capability and control. Take a very simple example.
There are two menA and B. If A possesses the capability to control B then it
will be assumed that A has the power. So power involves a successful attempt to
do something which he could not do otherwise.

In any society there are diverse interests and all are alike. When there are conflicts
among them one interest proceeds to dominate over the other and the interest
which prevails upon the other the former may be called powerful interest.

Karl Deutsch says that power means the ability to be involved in conflict, to
resolve it and to remove the obstacles. Though Deutsch defines the concept in the

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 background of international politics, its relevance to national politics is, however,
undeniable. In domestic politics or pluralistic societies there are many competing
groups and all struggle to capture power or to influence. The group which
succeeds finally will be called powerful.

D. D. Raphael (Problems of Political Philosophy) has analysed power from

various aspects. He believes that generally power means the ability. Raphael says
that in French there is a word Pouvoir. In Latin Potestas is commonly used.
Both these words (these are verbs) mean to be able.

Raphael is of opinion that the English word power is derived from these two
words and naturally power may be used to mean ability and hence his definition
of power is specific kind of ability. Why specific kind? Let us quote him: The
ability to make other people do what one wants them to do.

Some political scientists want to mean that there is a special type of power which
may be designated as political power. For example, Alan Ball feels that power
may generally be used in political sense. Hence political power may broadly be
defined as the capacity to affect anothers behaviour by some form of sanction.
Leslie Lipson (The Great Issues of Politics) thinks that power is nothing but the
ability to achieve results through concerted action.

Hague, Harrop and Breslins definition is slightly different: In a broad sense the
power is the production of intended effects. A sociologists definition of power
is: the possibility of having ones own decision, select alternatives or reduce
complexities for others. Thus, power means the capacity to make decisions
binding and ability to discharge responsibilities and perform certain functions.

2. What is Authority?
It refers to power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over
whom it is exercised (Schaefer and Lamm, 1992). It is established to make decisions and
order the actions of others. It is a form of legitimate power. Legitimacy means that those
subject to a governments authority consent to it (Giddens, 1997).

The people give to the ruler the authority to rule, and they obey willingly without the
threat of force. We tend to obey the orders of police officer because we accept their right
to have power over us in certain situations. Legitimate power is accepted as being
rightfully exercised (for example, power of the king). Thus, sociologists distinguish
power from authority.

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Authority is an agreed-upon legitimate relationship of domination and subjugation. For
example, when a decision is made through legitimate, recognized channels of
government, the carrying out of that decision falls within the realm of authority. In brief,
power is decision-making and authority is the right to make decisions, that is, legitimate
power.

3. What is the nature of power?

Nature of Power:

From the definitions of power noted above we can get certain features and the
first such feature is it is used in relational sense. When there is only one actor or
element the issue of power does not arise. It is because power implies ability to
influence or control others or to get things done by others. Naturally power relates
to the relationship or interaction between two or among more than two elements
or actors. So power is always viewed in the background of relationship.

In the second place, power is disaggregated and non-cumulative it is shared and

bartered by numerous groups spread throughout society and representing diverse
interests. In any pluralist society there are numerous groups and they all compete
among themselves at various levels to capture political power or to influence the
agencies who exercise their influence.

Hence it is observed that power is not concentrated at any particular centre.

Again, all the centres of power do claim to have equal or almost equal amount of
power. In other words, there is an unequal distribution of power like an unequal
distribution of wealth.

Thirdly, in a class-society there are diverse interests and each power centre
represents a particular interest. This point may further be explained. In any
capitalist society there are several classes, both major and minor, and each class
strives for the realisation of its own interests which are generally economic.

But there may be political interests. However, the conflicts among the classes
sometimes lead to the other conflicts and this is the general characteristic of
capitalist society. But the advocates of the capitalist system argue that this conflict
does not create an atmosphere of class struggle. There are processes of peaceful
resolution of all conflicts. At least Talcott Parsons and many sociologists think so.
According to these persons the capitalist system is so structured that the conflicts
do not create any impasse.

Fourthly, Maclver is of opinion that power is a conditional concept. Power,

Maclver says, is an ability to command service from others. But this ability, he

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 continues, depends in some measure upon certain conditions and if the conditions
are not fulfilled properly power cannot function. Power is not something which is
permanently fixed. It is subject to change and it has source.

If the source dries up power generation or enhancement will stop. Again, mere
existence of sources cannot cause the rise of power. The holder of power must
have the ability to use or utilise the sources of power. All these conditions
establish the fact that power is conditional.

Fifthly, power (used in political science) is a very complex notion. How it is used,
what consequences it produces, how it is to be achieved-all are in real sense
complex. No simple analysis can unearth the various aspects of power. Different
people use different terms to denote power. For example, Dahl uses the term
influence to mean power.

4. Different types of power

Max Weber (1958) believed that there are three (not one) independent and equally
important orders of power as under.

Economic power:
For Marx, economic power is the basis of all power, including political power. It is based
upon an objective relationship to the modes of production, a groups condition in the
labour market, and its chances. Economic power refers to the measurement of the ability
to control events by virtue of material advantage.

Social power:
It is based upon informal community opinion, family position, honour, prestige and
patterns of consumption and lifestyles. Weber placed special emphasis on the importance
of social power, which often takes priority over economic interests. Contemporary
sociologists have also given importance to social status so much so that they sometimes
seem to have underestimated the importance of political power.

Political power:
It is based upon the relationships to the legal structure, party affiliation and extensive
bureaucracy. Political power is institutionalized in the form of large-scale government
bureaucracies. One of the persistent ideas has been that they are controlled by elites, that
is, small, select, privileged groups.

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Political power concerns the activities of the states which is not confined to national
boundaries. The networks of political power can stretch across countries and across the
globe. Political power involves the power to tax and power to distribute resources to the
citizens.

Besides, Webers types of power, there are a few other types also which are as under:

Knowledge power:
To Foucault (1969), power is intimately linked with knowledge. Power and knowledge
produce one another. He saw knowledge as a means of keeping tabs on people and
controlling them.

Military power:
It involves the use of physical coercion. Warfare has always played a major role in
politics. Modem mass military systems developed into bureaucratic organizations and
significantly changed the nature of organizing and fighting wars. According to Weber,
few groups in society base their power purely on force or military might.

Ideological power:
It involves power over ideas and beliefs, for example, are communism, fascism and some
varieties of nationalism. These types of ideologies are frequently oppositional to
dominant institutions and play an important role in the organization of devotees into sects
and parties. According to Michael Mann (1986), there are two types of power, viz.,
distributional and collective.

Distributional power:
It is a power over others. It is the ability of individuals to get others to help them pursue
their own goals. It is held by individuals.

Collective power:
It is exercised by social groups. It may be exercised by one social group over another.

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 5. What is the nature of authority?
The right or the capacity or both to have proposals or prescriptions or instructions
accepted without recourse to persuasion, bargaining or force. Concise Oxford Dictionary
of Politics- defines the term in the following words: the power or right to give orders and
enforce obedience, the power to influence others based on recognised knowledge or
expertise.

Authority can most simply be defined as legitimate power.. Authority is, therefore,
based on an acknowledged duty to obey rather than on any form of coercion or
manipulation. In this sense authority is power cloaked in legitimacy or rightfulness.

R. S. Peters definition is: Authority is derived from the Latin word auctoritas and
auctor. An auctor is he who brings about the existence of any object or promotes the
increase or prosperity of it whether he first originates it, or by his efforts gives greater
permanence or continuance to it (Authority. by R. S. Peters, published in Political
Philosophy. Edited by Anthony Quinton).

In the opinion of Maclver By authority we mean the established right within any social
order to determine policies, to pronounce judgments or relevant issues and to settle
controversies or, more broadly, to act as leader or guide to other men (The Web of
Government).

Authority is the right to rule. It exists when subordinates acknowledge the right of
superiors to give orders. Authority is more than voluntary compliance.

D. D. Raphael offers a very precise definition of authority. He says: To have authority to

do something is to have the right to do it. Authority is, therefore, a kind of right to do
something. But Raphael explains the term right in the following manner. Here the word
right carries a lot of significance and that is why he elaborates it. In his opinion the right
has two meanings.

An authority or a man has right implies that he may do something or he is permitted to do

something. It may be that the person has been licensed to do the job or take an action.
Here the term right is used in the sense of freedom. According to Raphael right has
another meaning. This meaning proposes that right means to receive something. Right
also means the claim to something. Let us explain it. An individual can claim to have

17
something from another person or source. When right is used in this sense we call it right
of recipience.

Hence we find that authority is used in both senses. An individual can do something and
when he is challenged by others he will meet the challenge by saying that he has the
authority to do the work. He receives this authority either from the established law or
from the consent of the people. This consent may be unanimous in character or majority
opinion. Here authority is cloaked by legitimacy.

6. Type of authority

Webers Classification of Authority:

Max Weber, the doyen of sociology, has classified authority on the basis of legitimacy
Authoritys claim to do something and to demand allegiance from the citizens are based
on arguments which Weber calls legitimacy. Needless to say that Weber uses the term
legitimacy in the light of greater and wider perspective.

There are three types of authority. The first is traditional authority. Second is charismatic
authority and the third is legal-rational authority. This classification, though not fool
proof one, is still recognised and accepted by majority people.

The above mentioned types of authority are explained below:

1. Traditional Authority:

The first type of authority is called traditional authority because authority is based on
customs and traditions which are long established. That is, people of a community show
respect to a particular authority on the ground that their forefathers did the same and
naturally they cannot violate the tradition.

In earlier epochs authority existed and received obedience from the citizens. The tradition
continues. The authority, in this way is sanctioned by the tradition. An aspect of the

18
traditional authority is that there is no legal sanction behind such authority. Simple
customs, traditions and conventions have made the authority legitimate.

The records of the activities of the traditional authority are to be found in the pages of
history. Weber says that in ancient time and even in middle Ages in many political
systems the traditional authority existed. There was also traditional authority in tribal
societies of all countries. This was due to the fact that political system in its present form
did not develop in the tribal societies. But this did not adversely affect the functioning or
management of tribal societies or political systems of earlier epochs.

In hereditary social and political systems the traditional authority exists. In many
countries of Africa (or West Asia) there are hereditary systems or dynastic rulers. The son
or daughter of a ruler becomes ruler. The rulers of the hereditary system have built up the
tradition and that tradition continues.

The governing system of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Morocco provide the examples of
traditional authority and hereditary system. In some industrialised countries the
hereditary systems still prevail. These states are Britain, Spain, Belgium and the
Netherlands. Britain has no written constitution, but there is a constitutional system or
framework based on tradition, customs, convention etc. and British people obey them and
give them legal sanction. The British parliament also obeys these customs and
conventions. In some countries, customs, conventions and written laws and constitution
all are mixed together.

2. Charismatic Authority:

Charismatic authority is Webers second type of legitimate authority. People obey the
authority or show allegiance mainly due to the charisma possessed by the authority. An
individual creates tremendous impact upon the mind of the people by dint of his
personality or charisma. Not all individuals or men holding power possess such type of
personality or charisma. If we open the pages of history we shall find that few leaders
such as Hitler, Mussolini, Nepoleon, Ayatoallah Khomeini, and Fidel Castro possessed he
charismatic power.

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The charisma is so powerful that people do not go into the legal aspects of the power.
With the help of charisma the authority exercises power and people accept it. Charismatic
authority is not always supported by law. Charisma is a special quality or gift of God.
Sometimes charisma and legality are to be find a single person. For example, de Gaulle
of France, Margaret Thatcher of Britain had exceptional qualities to influence people.

Nehru of India had the same qualities. But all these persons came to power through legal
and constitutional means. Not in reality it is not always clear who is simply a charismatic
authority and legal or constitutional authority. This is specially correct if we consider the
regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. Hitler, Mussolini and even to some extent de Gaulle
forcefully seized political power and they remained in power with the help of charisma.

3. Legal-Rational Authority:

Webers final classification is legal-rational authority. In almost all the modern states this
type of authority is generally found. It is legal because the formal authority is supported
by existing laws of the constitution. It is rational on the ground that the posts and
positions are clearly defined by law. Power and duty are also clearly stated Rational-legal
authority is the explicit form of a right to give orders and to have been obeyed.
The core idea of the legal-rational authority is the holder of the authority has the right to
issue orders or to take decisions and also the authority (sanctioned by law) to implement
them. When the authority is challenged by rebellion or recalcitrant elements the authority
has the power/ability to take legal action. Everything is cloaked with legality.
An important aspect of legal-rational authority isit cannot do anything or take any
decision on its own accord. Whatever the authority wants to do it must have legal
sanction. Legal-rational authority can be called a type of limited form of government.
John Locke contemplated such type of government. Later on legal- rational authority laid
the foundation of liberal form of government.
The government cannot whimsically interfere with the freedom of citizens. The central
theme of the legal-rational authority is law and rationality is the vital points. There is no
place of whims and the rationality in such authority.

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Bibliography

Mundal, P. (2016). Power of Politics: Meaning, Types and Sources of Power. Retrieved
from
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/power-of-politics-meaning-types-and-
sources-of-power/31356/

Nitisha A. (2016). Power and Authority: Definition, Nature and Theory. Retrieved from
http://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/articles/power-and-authority-definition-
nature-and-theory/795

Political Ideologies and Styles. (2016). Retrieved from

http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/political-
science/political-ideologies-and-styles/section1.rhtml

Politics and Law - Political Ideologies. (n.d). Retrieved from

http://www.quick-facts.co.uk/politics/ideologies.html

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