Authority and Legitimacy

Catalog description

What gives people in power the right to make and enforce laws? The course examines classic and contemporary conceptions of political authority and legitimacy. What is authority and when is it legitimate? Does legitimate authority depend on the consent of citizens, or on the justice of decisions? Can the people hold ultimate authority over the law, or is this merely empty rhetoric? Authors include Hobbes, Rousseau, Weber, Schmitt, Arendt, Althusser, Wolff, Nozick, and Habermas. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors.