Authority can be described as “rightful” power.

Max Weber describes three types of

authority: traditional, charismatic and legal rational.

The first type of Authority is Traditional Authority This form of authoritative power comes
from established customs passing power down on a hereditary basis; for example, the British
Monarchy. This type of authority relies on the unquestioning acceptance of hereditary
systems of power and privilege. This type of authority is often based on ideas of traditional
and established values, ‘respect for elders’ and the idea that it is ‘right’ to accept the
authority of certain people or groups as it has always been that way. An example of this
would be the British Monarchy. The British Royal family could be said to have traditional
authority (although they have little real power) and people accept their rule due to the
longstanding British tradition of having a monarchy. Their authority is passed on through
descendants i.e. Prince Charles became King after Queen Elizabeth’s death. It can be argued
that this type of power is unquestioned because it has always existed and therefore this
traditional authority can be open to abuse by those who want absolute power – expecting
citizens to follow their will because it is ‘right and just’. This type of authority is still relevant
as many countries still have monarchies. However, it may be of less significance in Western
Liberal Republics i.e. Germany, USA as they have no monarchy.

The second type of authority is charismatic authority. This can be described as someone
who, through their own personality convinces people of their authority, they often use
propaganda and the media to create a particular image of a leader, painting them as a
national hero or a “man of the people.” This creates around them a cult of personality,
meaning people nearly worship them and view their rule as rightful, even though they may
have taken it unfairly, they’ve been manipulated to believe so. In order to maintain a cult of
personality brutal suppression is used to criminalise criticism through control of the press
and public, violent punishment of opposition. An example of this would be Joseph Stalin
who lead the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1955, his death. He was given power after the
death of Lenin, therefore it could be said his power wasn’t legitimately won, however he
made great use of propaganda and rewriting history to paint him as a war hero to win over
the people. In addition he brutally suppressed opposition through his Gulag system whereby
dissenters were sent to work camps for long hard sentences, they would then return to their
homes and tell people how horrible it was, thus deterring them. However, often in systems
such as these where one charismatic leader is at the centre of this cult of personality, when
they die a power vacuum is left leading to instability and even civil war. When Stalin died in
1955 his successor wasn’t made clear so instability ensued, many historians believe that the
Stalin years were the USSR’s peak and without him, it faltered heavily. It can be argued that
charismatic authority is still very relevant to modern politics, now that the media is an
integral part of the election process often the most charismatic candidate wins, as was seen
in 2016 in the US presidential election where Donald Trump, arguably the most charismatic
between himself and Hilary Clinton won.

The third and final type of authority is legal-rational authority. This can be described as when
the law of the land gives an individual or group of people the authority to manage and rule
subordinate groups, i.e., the public. Weber says it operates in most modern states, for
example the Constitution of the United States gives the Office of President the power to
govern and to enforce the law. It is important to note that constitutions usually limit and
check rulers and institutions which leads to effective government. It relies on the willingness
of a population to hand over their power to a leader and not to abuse it, whether it be
through voting or a contract. For example in 1997 the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a
large majority in the House of Commons, 418 out of 659. Along with an exceptionally high
turnout of 71% this gave Blair and his Government the legal authority to run the country as
it was a fair and legal process. It can be argued that this type of authority protects the
people since it limits governments and they get to have a say in their government.
Furthermore because governments depend on the people for their power they must do
what is in the publics interest in order to stay in power further benefiting the people. Finally
since constitutions give power to institutions rather than individual people the transference
of power is often stable and legal.

In conclusion, Max Weber identified the three main types of Authority as Traditional,
Charismatic and Legal- Rational. He argued that these types of authority had moved in a
cycle through time; from traditional to charismatic to legal-rational, with the latter being the
most relevant in today’s modern democracies.