ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part argues that expectations about preferences, and about the amount and use of power to attain them, increase its stability. It shows that not only expectations about the use of power but also uncertainty about its use, even uncertainty about preferences, suppresses redistributive politics. The part discusses the effects of legitimacy on the stability of authority. It presents the results of a number of tests of various features of this argument, together with a review of other relevant literature that bears on it. The part focuses on the normative regulation of power, further exploiting the insight of S. Dombusch and W. R. Scott's theory that authority is coordinated action by a system of actors, not a dyadic relation. It shows that validity can be achieved even if there is dissensus, providing the pregiven structure is not a single, coherent whole.
