Foundations of Authority

Abstract

The question of authority – what justifies it, whether it need be democratic, and its relationship to values such as justice, rights, and equality – is perhaps the most longstanding and maybe even the most fundamental one in political theory. The papers in this panel explore political authority from a variety of normative perspectives and methodological approaches. One topic the papers cover involves clarifying and delimiting the basic concept of authority, and distinguishing it from adjacent ideas such as power, influence, and legitimacy. Another theme is the relationship between authority and democracy. The idea that only democratic regimes can enjoy political authority seems unsupported and parochial from a historical (including non-Western) perspective. After all, non-democratic regimes need not be absolutist and may secure stability and social order. If, however, we make assumptions about the fundamental moral authority of individuals and oppose political hierarchy, then it’s plausible that democratic authority enjoys particular value. A final theme is the capacity of democratically constituted political authorities to combat pathologies such as domination and oppression, at least if citizens are committed to some form of democratic participation; and the papers consider these questions too.

Title	Details
A Normative Approach to Distinguishing Between Four Fundamental Social Relationships: A New Conceptual Analysis of Influence, Authority, Power, & Domination	View Paper Details
Social Hierarchy, Authority, and the Justification of Democracy	View Paper Details
Political Legitimacy and the Authority of Reasons: Relocating the Value of Democracy	View Paper Details
Rule of Nature: Authority, Law, and Freedom in Shibli Shumayyil (1850-1917)	View Paper Details
The Intellectual Divergence on the Concept of Reason Between Lukacs and Horkheimer When Dealing with Authority and Resistance	View Paper Details