government authority
Official ruling capacity
Government authority is the power vested in official institutions to make and enforce laws, regulate conduct, and administer public affairs.
It encompasses legislative bodies, executive agencies, courts, and regulatory commissions at federal, state, and local levels.
The building permit requires government authority approval.
She spent twenty years working for various government authorities.
The phrase can refer to the abstract concept of state power or to specific agencies exercising that power.
- lawsEnforceable societal rules
- law enforcementUpholding legal codes
- police powerState's right to govern
- legitimacyLawful or rightful status
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
policy-making · decrees · monarchy · adjudication · bureaucracy · civil service · federal agency · cabinet · democracy · constitution · regulations · taxation · executive power · checks and balances · charters · mandate · treaties · legislative power
government authorityindividual autonomy
Power over own choices
personal freedom · private enterprise · corporate power · market forces · free market
government authorityanarchy
Disorder from absent authority
lawlessness · statelessness · self-governance · autonomy · chaos
government authoritypopular uprising
Collective revolt against authority
civil disobedience · rebellion · revolution · insurrection · resistance
government, authority, govern, governor, governed, governing, governable, ungovernable, governance