Power and public authority

Public authority addresses how actors, ranging from officials to gang leaders, and cultural innovators, interact via cooperation, competition and conflict to generate shifting degrees of social order within territories. This paper summarises four key components that directly relate to power. First, power underlies public authority. Second, public authority entails and engenders institutional bricolage. Third, public authorities utilise functions, structures, ideas and symbols of statehood. Fourth, public authorities seek legitimacy. A systematic exposition of power informs analysing public authority—notably the degree to which it facilitates inclusive or exclusive participation and distribution of benefits. This paper outlines a conceptual framework, with attention to basic elements of power, using a triadic approach that incorporates seven basic formats (or strategic templates) for exercising such power. This framework can inform subsequent inquiry and policy analysis.