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The problem of authority has a practical and a theoretical side. Practically, the decline of authority contributes to the crisis of legitimacy in contemporary governments and to difficulties in the practice of morality. Theoretically, authority is often confused with power, force, or coercion. Thus, it is viewed with suspicion. The thesis of this paper is that authority is not a form of power; rather, it transforms power. Like power, force, and coercion, authority is directive, but it is so in quite a different way. An examination of the concept of authority in three very different theorists – Carl Friedrich, Yves R. Simon, and Michael Polanyi – reveals that a sound concept of authority must be rooted in community as a system of shared beliefs, experiences, and traditions and in transcendent standards referred to by such beliefs, experiences, and traditions. Authority is that which directs a community to its proper end.

AN ANALYSIS OF GENERAL THEORIES OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IS MADE; A PARTICULAR IDEA CALLED 'THE POLITICS OF INTEREST' DOMINATES RECENT THEORETICAL EFFORTS. 'THE POLITICS OF INTEREST' SEE POLITICS AS AN ARENA INTO WHICH INDIVIDUAL & GROUP INTERESTS ENTER TO BE DEALT WITH BY PARTICULAR PROCESSES & TRANSFORMED INTO OUTCOMES, POLICIES, OR OUTPUTS. THE THEORY OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICS CONCERNS THE INTERACTION OF INTERESTS. THE INTEREST THEORY OF POLITICS BELIEVES THAT NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS CALLED 'INTEREST' IS EGOISTIC IN MOTIVATION EVEN THOUGH IT ACCEPTS EGOISTIC & NONEGOISTIC VALUES UNDER THE HEADING OF 'INTEREST'. THE POLITICS BEHIND INTEREST DO NOT ALLOW FOR JUSTICE. A 2ND ELEMENT OF THE POLITICS OF INTEREST IS THE 'SCIENCE OF POLITICS'. THE THEORY OF THE POLITICS OF INTEREST & SCIENTIFIC VALUE RELATIVISM HAS BECOME RELATED WITHIN US POLITICAL THEORY EVEN THOUGH INDIVIDUAL INTEREST IDEAS CAN BE FORMED WITHOUT BEHAVIORALISM. 3 MAIN COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIORAL ORIENTATION CAUSE THE INTERACTION OF INTERESTS: (1) ITS POSITION ON THE STATUS OF VALUES, (2) ITS CONCERN WITH CONCEPTUALIZATION, & (3) ITS OPERATIONALISM. THE 'POLITICS OF INTEREST' THEORY DOES IMPOSE SOME LIMITATIONS ON POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICAL THEORY WHICH ARE DISCUSSED. MODIFIED HA.

The world lost a true gentleman and a scholar–an aristocrat of the highest order—in early 2004 when Metin Tamkoc passed away in Istanbul, Turkey. One of his colleagues described him as having "possessed a rare combination of urbanity, seriousness of purpose, and good humor. He treated students and faculty alike with deep respect and pursued the highest standards of scholarship."