Understanding Political Authority: A Study of Legitimacy and Power Dynamics

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[...] The authority of speech is largely acquired by the quality of the arguments. Indeed, how can we gain authority if our public is not convinced of what we say? This opinion is not, however, unanimously shared. According to Hannah Arendt, "Authority ( . ) is incompatible with persuasion, which presupposes equality and operates through a process of argumentation. Where arguments are used, authority is set aside. Opposite the egalitarian order of persuasion stands the authoritarian order, which is always hierarchical". [...]

[...] This authority can be permitted by two main parameters: the circumstances and the status of the person who speaks. We have therefore been able to observe that the foundation of a speech can affect the authority of a speaker in a positive sense as much as in a negative sense. This can indeed accentuate this authority but also reduce it. However, it is certainly just as important to pay attention to the way this foundation is presented, that is to say the form, and all the means used to acquire more authority. [...]

[...] They have, in fact, virulently criticized writers such as Homer, who speak of things they do not really know. For example, how can Homer be legitimate to speak of war (in this case, the Trojan War in The Iliad) then he was not a strategist? We can extend this reflection to the government, which does not only take decisions on politics, but on everything related to the city or the country (health, education, war, trade, alliances, migratory flows, economy . [...]

[...] Maybe giving political authority to a philosopher who works for virtue would be the best solution. Here, precisely, we can talk about Plato's political authority: if his point of view seems utopian, the observation of current facts (for example with the demonstrations against the pension reform and the accusations made against the government of favoring the country's economy over people's conditions) gives it more credibility, hence more authority. It remains to be seen whether his definition of virtue allows for governance and, in the context of the question we are dealing with, whether it allows for gaining authority. [...]

[...] And conversely, the male sex grants politicians an additional authority that does not relate to legitimacy, in the sense of the real ability to govern correctly. For example, it is clear that a man and a woman exercising the same function will not always be taken seriously in the same way, and this even if the woman has more knowledge and skills. This injustice has been denounced by the author Annie Leclerc, who stated in Word of a Woman : "Why would the truth come out of the mouths of men? [...]