This entry is concerned with the philosophical issues that arise in the justification of political authority.  First, this entry will examine some of the main conceptual issues that arise relating to political authority.  What do we mean by political authority?  This entry distinguishes political authority from political power, and the idea of morally legitimate political authority from descriptive ideas of authority.  It also distinguishes between authority in the sense of morally justified coercion and authority in the sense of capacity to impose duties on others and finally from authority as right to rule. Further distinctions concern the nature of the duties that political authority imposes on subjects. 