Student’s Name

Course

Professor’s Name

Date

Authority: Explore, Compare, and Discuss the Nature and Legitimacy of Authority.

Authority has a different meaning depending on the context of the field. Particularly in political science and sociology is the legitimate power of a group of people or people over others. This brings about the question of the difference between power and authority.  To have authority has to entail legitimacy, which is the popular recognition and acceptance by the public to the governing regime. For a government, for instance, to be termed as legitimate as to be acknowledged or recognized as in control of a nation and deserves formal recognition.  In his book “The Prince,” Machiavelli introduces the concept of authority as leadership that does not give full recognition to religion or morality.

Machiavelli says in his book that there is no way of judging legitimate and illegitimate authority. He believes that the elites and their power should be equal in society. He has said he believes that whoever has power commands but does not overpower the others in the society. Authority is, in most cases, exercised in a political setup, and one needs to have good laws and good arms. Machiavelli says that coercion creates legality, and he concentrates on force and stresses on arms than laws, “ordered political system, you need have good arms and good laws. He later adds that since coercion creates legality, he will concentrate mostly on the force. Machiavelli...