Distguising Power and Authority

It is interesting to read and understand how different emperors managed or ruled their empires. We see a direct correlation between leadership and the outcome of the empires success. Some Empires used more Authority than power and vice versa and some used a combination of both, surprisingly it all seemed to be dependent on the people and their class.

The Pericles, Funeral Oration for example, showed a lot of authority that was used in the Athenian democracy. The words "persuade" and "convince" needs to be emphasized in this document, that is exactly what is transmitted. The reason a large abundant of authority is expressed in this document is because a great amount of pride was felt and lived by the Athenians. They view themselves as the best, having the best quality of everything, and thinking that everyone dependent on them. Therefore because of this thinking all the people are treated better and more freely and the leaders show a lot more trust. For example, in the document it says, "An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household..." its almost as if their brain washing them, or making the use of authority so effectively that all the people really do believe that this is what a Athenian citizen believes and lives by. The Roman Empire also used authority, though not as much. They used a good range of combination between the two, for example, the document states "you have divided into two parts all the men of your empire..." this interesting statement tells us that depending of the class of the person, the more accomplished, noble and powerful were considered citizens and were shown more authority and the remainder of the people or non citizen were shown more power and force to do what is required.

In contrast the Chinese Empire gives us the feeling that if the leader is strong and sticks to the law and uses power and force then the empire is strong and if the leader is weak and is more lenient then the empire is weak. That is why it is was important to put intelligent " men following the discipline of laws and regulations" in leadership positions. Men that would enforce consequences and punishment if laws were to be broken. The Chinese Empire used power by absolute punishment and fear. Whereas the India Empire was way more lenient and changed many laws, however if necessary the law was enforced. The Indian Empire gives the feeling of buying out the people through gifts, and leaders working, which is good depending how you look at it. The combination of both power and authority is much more effective if you rule with authority and use power when needed. The Chinese empire had a curious mixture of power and authority, which they called chastisement and commendation, which was either to inflict death or torture if law was broken or bestow encouragement or reward if laws were kept.