جدلية العلاقة بين القوة وشرعية السلطة في الفكر السياسي الغربي: دراسة تحليلية

ا.م.د . يثرب خطاب منديل

doi:10.64184/ajlps.V3.I3.Y2026.p.258-283.372

Authors

Assistant Professor Dr. Yathrib Khattab Mandel Tikrit University - College of Political Science Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64184/ajlps.V3.I3.Y2026.p.258-283.372

Keywords:

Power, Legitimacy of Authority, Western Political Thought, Modern State, Political Authority.

Abstract

The relationship between power and the legitimacy of authority is considered one of the central dilemmas in Western political thought due to its connection with the nature of authority and the foundations that grant it the right to command and demand obedience. This study examines the dialectical relationship between power and legitimacy through an analysis of the philosophical and political conceptions of authority across different stages of Western political thought, beginning with classical perspectives, passing through social contract theories, and reaching modern and contemporary approaches. The study also discusses the transformations of the concept of power from material coercion to more complex forms associated with influence and the production of political and social consent. The research concludes that power and legitimacy constitute two intertwined elements in the construction and continuity of political authority, and that understanding this dialectic is essential for analyzing the nature of the modern state and the limits of its exercise of authority..

References

sources and references

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1. Alexander Koyré, Introduction to Reading Plato, translated by Abdel Majid Abu Al-Naga (Cairo: Egyptian General Organization for Book, 2025).

2. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, translated by Amin Morsi Qandil (Cairo: Alam al-Kutub, 2004).

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Second/ Scientific journals :

1. Abdullah Abdul Hadi Al-Murhaj, “A Philosophical Reading of the Concept of Power in Plato and Foucault,” Lark Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Wasit: 2024).

2. Ahmed Faqih, “Political Authority and Its Establishment Mechanisms in Western Political Thought and Islamic Jurisprudence,” Al-Haqiqa Journal, No. 42 (Iraq: 2018).

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17. Shaher Ismail Al-Shaher, “Studies in State, Power and Citizenship,” Arab Democratic Center Journal, No. (not specified) (Berlin: 2017).

Third /University theses and dissertations :

1. Kaori Malha, The Dialectic of Power and Justice in Contemporary Political Thought: Richard Rorty, Unpublished Master’s Thesis (Oran: 2015).

2. Omar Hamid Faraj Al-Omari, The Subjection of Political Authority to Law within the Concept of the Rule of Law, Unpublished Master’s Thesis (Amman: 2019).