The Service Conception and Normative Collective Action

Abstract

This paper suggests an interpretation of Joseph Raz's service conception of authority. According to this interpretation, when there is no special prior obligation to obey the authority, legitimate practical authority can only be established when the authoritative directive aims to solve normative collective action problems. These are the familiar problems such as prisoner's-dilemmas and coordination problems, which hamper the agent's ability to conform to the reasons for action that apply to her. Another implication of this analysis is that in such cases, de facto authority is a prerequisite of legitimate authority, since de facto authority is necessary for the physical capability to coordinate and solve these problems.