The U.S Government Power and Authority in the 21 st Century

According to Max Weber, law is treated as an expression of political domination founded
on elements of power and authority. Although discourse of liberal democracy urges people to
perceive politics as a system that facilitates equality, the difference between power and authority
conveys the notion that a state’s basis of authority is fundamental in determining the level of
endurance for any system of power. Power and authority are inherently different types of
political domination that describe the structures and values of political systems across the globe.
The main difference between these two forms of positions is the aspect of legitimacy. Power has
been described as a rigorous and forceful coercion of subordinates into obeying the commands of
their rulers, while authority is dependsent on followers’ willingness to obey guided by a form of
morally binding imperative. Majority of political science literature identifies authority as the
most stable form of power. This paper will analyze the type of state authority for the United
States in the 21 st century.
The characteristics of the legal-rational form of authority, according to Weber’s
classifications of authority, best describe the source of authority for the United States’
government in the 21 st century. One of the characteristics of legal-rational authority is the
legitimacy of legally enacted rules as justification of obedience (Sutton, 106). ThisLegitimacy
clearly aligns with the U.S. political structure whereby citizens acknowledge the legality of the
U.S. Government position of power. Sutton notes that this type of authority “is a distinctively

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modern form of domination in the sense that obedience is oriented to a faceless and abstract
system of rules and principles rather than to the person of the ruler” (p. 106). In essence, laws are
not perceived legal due to their constitution but because they are enacted according to specific
sets of legitimate procedures. The U.S. Constitution is the primal example of this characteristic,
as bills go through a set of procedures before they can be passed ashave to be enacted into laws.
Furthermore, there is a specific way in which laws are enacted according to each other, forming a
logical relationship between many laws that are clearly written for objective reference.
The distribution of power within the state is objective in that obligations or roles are
attached to positions of power rather than specific individuals. The U.S. government is based on
a federal system in which power is distributed between a central government and state
governments. The U.S. Constitution accords specific powers to the federal government, others to
the state government. There are also certain powers that are granted to both federal and state
governments in the same capacity. For instance, the federal government reserves the power to
declare war, make treaties, c and control exports, and imports. However, responsibilities, such as
business regulation, civil rights, and taxation, are shared by both federal and state governments.
All political activities including elections must be enacted according to the cConstitution
regardless of the ruling political party. Le Roy notes that the first part of the 21 st century has been
majorly characterized by efforts to increase centralization of power to achieve more uniformity
on national policy goals (p. 319). The presence of legal institutions to enact laws shows that the
U.S. Government employs a legal-rational authority with Americans.
The social contract theory best describes the United States’ distribution of power since
the federal system of governance was a voluntary act of free people to create a system that
served the will of the people. Furthermore, tAlso, the citizens are the source of political power

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since they are free to choose the leaders they want to serve them. The biggest proponents of the
social contract theory, John Locke and David Hume, presented two basic elements of a social
contract. These include the “mutual defense of rights” and “mutual decision by deliberative
assembly” (Chris Grollnek) ..” The U.S. Constitution starts with the words “We the people…,”
conveying the idea of sovereignty (Tushnet, Mark and Levinson p. et al. 433). In this case, the
American people possess the power to overthrow or keep the government. The sovereignty
possessed by Americans over the type of governance shows that there is a social contract in
effect.
The authority of the American government in the 21 st century aligns with Weber’s legal-
rational type of authority. The form of power retained by the U.S. government is legitimate and
rests with on designated positions rather than individuals. Moreover, the federal system is
executed within the boundaries of the U.S. Cconstitution, which is arguably a form of social
contact. Such a system means that American citizens have the power to keep or overthrow the
government if it is in breach of the social contract.

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Works Cited

Chris Grollnek. The Social Contract Theory of John Locke. 2014.
<https://www.chrisgrollnek.com/the-social-contract-theory-of-john-locke/>.
Le Roy, Katy. Legislative, Eexecutive, and Jjudicial Ggovernance in Ffederal Ccountries. Vol.

3. McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP, 2006.
   Sutton, John. Law/society: Origins, Iinteractions, and Cchange. Vol. 474. Pine Forge Press,
   2001.
   Tushnet, Mark V., Mark A. Graber, Mark A, and Sanford Levinson, Sanford, editors. The Oxford
   Hhandbook of the US Constitution. Oxford Handbooks, 2015.