# Authority first vs legitimacy first revolutions In authority first revolutions, the revolutionaries first seize power (ie become the authorities) and use that power to legitimize themselves. In legitimacy first revolutions, revolutionaries first build up legitimacy[^1] and then build authority on top of that legitimacy. The American revolution was the latter, the French Revolution is the former. The warlord who seizes power and then implements (hopefully) beneficial social changes is an authority first revolution while if Robinhood seized power it would be a legitimacy first revolution. It feels like most of our revolutions authority-first now (related to [[Revolt of the Commons]]). As a result, everybody is fighting over power and saying “I’ll do the good things once I have it.” ### Related * [[The mechanisms for individuals to have big impacts feels broken]] — it feels like people need to seize authority first and there are few chances to build legitimacy. [^1]: I suspect this mechanism looks like a [[Legitimacy cascade]] [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Authority+first+vs+legitimacy+first+revolutions) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Authority+first+vs+legitimacy+first+revolutions)