until Power becomes Authority

I was listening to Damian Marley’s “Road to Zion”, which deals with the ills in society. It’s on his “Jamrock” album (which btw I think is marvelous).

There’s this line in the chorus: “and police wey abuse dem authority”. Since the album (like most of his work) is rich with political, religious and social commentary, I decided to project the concept beyond the neighbourhood cop and the harassed citizenry, and onto the world stage.

Immediately, the facile example of America using its military might in Iraq without “due process” came to mind. I started to dismiss this “example”, saying to myself “The US didn’t ‘abuse authority’. Nobody gave them authority. They abused power.”

Then the obvious inference returned to my head that “that’s the danger: when people have the power to act without sanction.”

Power allows one to act by virtue of one’s innate ability. Authority allows one to act by virtue of permission from a supervisor, to whom one is supposed to be accountable.

For the Supervisor to be able to perform its role, it must have Power over the Authorised. Authority must be backed, defended and curtailed by Power.

When the over-ruling Power authorizes all acts and Authorities, it has achieved Order. Order is the replacement of all Power (except the supreme Power) by Authority.