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power, authority, and Violence 333

The ultimate foundation of any
political order is violence, no more
starkly demonstrated than when a
government takes a human life. This
iconic photo from the war in Vietnam
shows the chief of the national police
shooting a suspected Viet Cong
officer.

step on the gas. As you hit 85, you see flashing blue and red lights in your rearview mirror.
Your explanation about the robbery doesn’t faze the officer—or the judge who hears your
case a few weeks later. She first lectures you on safety and then orders you to pay $50 in
court costs plus $10 for every mile over 65. You pay the $250.
The mugger, the police officer, and the judge—all have power, and in each case you
part with $250. What, then, is the difference? The difference is that the mugger has no
authority. His power is illegitimate—he has no right to do what he did. In contrast, you
acknowledge that the officer has the right to stop you and that the judge has the right to
fine you. They have authority, or legitimate power.

Authority and Legitimate Violence
As sociologist Peter Berger observed, it makes little difference whether you willingly pay Watch on MySocLab
the fine that the judge levies against you or refuse to pay it. The court will get its money Video: The Basics: Politics and
one way or another. Government

There may be innumerable steps before its application [of violence], in the way of warnings
and reprimands. But if all the warnings are disregarded, even in so slight a matter as pay-
ing a traffic ticket, the last thing that will happen is that a couple of cops show up at the
door with handcuffs and a Black Maria [paddy wagon]. Even the moderately courteous cop
who hands out the initial traffic ticket is likely to wear a gun—just in case. (Berger 1963)
The government, then, also called the state, claims a monopoly on legitimate force
or violence. This point, made by Max Weber (1946, 1922/1978)—that the state claims authority power that people con-
both the exclusive right to use violence and the right to punish everyone else who uses sider legitimate, as rightly exercised
violence— is crucial to our understanding of politics. If someone owes you $100, you over them; also called legitimate
cannot take the money by force, much less imprison that person. The state, in contrast, power
can. The ultimate proof of the state’s authority is that you cannot kill someone because coercion power that people do
he or she has done something that you consider absolutely horrible—but the state can. not accept as rightly exercised over
As Berger (1963) summarized this matter, “Violence is the ultimate foundation of any them; also called illegitimate power
political order.” state a political entity that claims
But just why do people accept power as legitimate? Max Weber (1922/1978) identi- monopoly on the use of violence in
fied three sources of authority: traditional, rational–legal, and charismatic. Let’s examine some particular territory; commonly
each. known as a country