The legitimacy of political authority through the study and analysis of the concept in ancient and contemporary societies

Abstract

This paper aims to achieve a set of objectives, the most important of which is to define political authority and its relationship to the state, its origins and structures, and its intertwining and overlapping with similar concepts such as political order and sovereignty. This is the starting point from which the researcher embarked in this study to clarify some concepts, before answering the main question: "Do we need political authority? Or is political authority a parasitic and unnecessary phenomenon?" This question gave rise to several sub-questions that the researcher will address in the context of this study.

Accordingly, the body of this study is based on a primary hypothesis: humans are selfish by nature, and political authority is essential for any human society. If authority is absent from any human society, chaos will prevail. However, without neglecting the ideologies, trends, and schools of thought calling for the abolition of the state, the researcher poses the following question: "Does the idea of ​​a stateless state mean without authority? What is wrong with the existence of political authority?"

We used the historical approach to study the historical background and assist the researcher in clarifying and monitoring the phenomenon. However, it became clear to the researcher that using a single scientific approach was insufficient to achieve the objectives of the research and study. To achieve integration and objectivity, the researcher employed the historical approach and drew on a number of other theories and approaches. Based on the principle that multiple approaches lead to a more in-depth and accurate analysis, we employed the descriptive-analytical approach to track the successive variables resulting from the phenomenon as a natural consequence of the development of societies and human groups, in addition to the inductive and deductive approaches.

The study also addressed the theory of the political elite, one of the theories used to analyze the functioning of political systems.

In the section of the study that discusses the concept of authority in Islamic political thought, the researcher was forced to resort to the method of analyzing the Qur'anic text. The study was divided primarily into (5) sections to cover the following aspects of the subject:

• Section One: The Nature of Political Authority and the State, and an Explanation of Some Similar Concepts
• Section Two: The Origin of the State and the Stages of Development of Political Authority
• Section Three: The Concept of Political Authority in Christian and Western Thought
• Section Four: The Concept of Political Authority in Islamic Thought and Its Original Sources (the Qur'an and Sunnah)
• Section Five: Anti-State Trends (Anarchism), Anarchism as a Model
• Conclusion

The researcher concluded that:

The existence of political authority is necessary in societies, and that it is impossible to imagine a society without a political authority that governs and regulates it, and issues the rules and laws that apply to it. In the absence of authority, chaos prevails in society.