In The Notion of Authority, written in the 1940s in Nazi-occupied France, Alexandre Koj ve uncovers the conceptual premises of four primary models of authority, examining the practical application of their derivative variations from the Enlightenment to Vichy France.

This foundational text, translated here into English for the first time, is the missing piece in any discussion of sovereignty and political authority, worthy of a place alongside the work of Weber, Arendt, Schmitt, Agamben or Dum zil.

The Notion of Authority is a short and sophisticated introduction to Koj ve's philosophy of right. It captures its author's intellectual interests at a time when he was retiring from the career of a professional philosopher and was about to become one of the pioneers of the Common Market and the idea of the European Union.

Alexandre Koj ve (1902-68) was one of the key figures of twentieth-century philosophy. He is most widely known for his lectures on Hegel, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel, which shaped a generation of French intellectuals. Other titles in English include Outline of a Phenomenology of Right and The Concept, Time, and Discourse.