Power

Power is the older question and the harder one. The Power section takes up the recurring problems the classical tradition kept returning to: the distinction between force and authority, the grounds of legitimacy, the conditions under which power becomes rule, and the conditions under which rule degenerates back into mere force.

We resist the temptation to treat power as if it were the same object across every era. The Athenian dunamis, the Roman imperium, the medieval distinction between potestas and auctoritas, and the modern concept of sovereignty are not interchangeable — and the differences matter.