PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Power, Authority & Legitimacy
Explain the relationship between power, authority and legitimacy.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 Three not separate but one continuum → Authority = Power + Legitimacy R2 Power = the fact of acting.. authority = that fact accepted.. legitimacy = the reason for acceptance
Body flow
Power is broadest (Maclver: command of compliance / Weber: will despite resistance) → may rest on force, coercion, reward, manipulation.. force alone produces fear, not authority → legitimacy = rightfulness, belief of the governed → converts naked power into rightful authority (Rousseau: strength into right, obedience into duty).. authority = power + willing obedience from duty.. Weber's three types (traditional / charismatic / legal-rational) ground rightful rule → analytically distinct but practically intertwined → legitimacy lowers the cost of rule
Counter-view
Habermas: the process of legitimation matters → consent can be manufactured in capitalist democracies through party systems and welfare reforms
Conclusion routes
R1 All three indispensable → where legitimacy fails, authority decays back into naked force R2 Power becomes stable authority only when clothed in legitimacy → a continuum, not separate compartments
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
