ABSTRACT
Power needs to be seen in terms of its potential as well as its use, and unsuccessful attempts to exercise power are as much part of social and political behaviour as its successful use. Power, argued Bertrand Russell, is the production of intended effects. The arguments between elite theorists, Marxists and pluralists and the question of who exercises power depend on how it is exercised, that is, the bases on which power rests. Modern theorists see authority as the acceptance of the exercise of power, both by those who exercise it and those to whom it is applied as a crucial concept in politics. Students of jurisprudence draw a distinction between de facto and de jure authority. Weber's discussion of domination is principally concerned with legitime Herrschaft legitimate domination and he offered three ideal type bases for legitimacy. These are the traditional, the charismatic, and the rationallegal. David Held has put forward a continuum of obedience or compliance.
