Our dispute escalate and things start to get unpleasant. Acknowledging a need to do something to resolve the situation, we voluntarily agree to submit the dispute to a third party (an arbitrator) for resolution. The arbitrator will weigh and assess our reasons, and reach a conclusion about what should be done. We will follow her decision, since we voluntarily agreed to be bound by it. In this example, the arbitrator acts as a legitimate authority, and by paying close attention to exactly what the arbitrator does, we can learn something important about the nature of authority.