> Is authoritarian and authoritative exclusively [...] jargon alone? I'd say so, doing an internet search for "authoritarian vs authoritative" yields almost ex

> Is authoritarian and authoritative exclusively [...] jargon alone? I'd say so, doing an internet search for "authoritarian vs authoritative" yields almost exclusively parenting articles. In general, I think authoritarian is used for "you must do what I tell you" rule (governments, due the vocab word authoritarianism), and authoritative is used for "this is for sure the right way" objects and concepts (papers, sources, statements). The definition I have for authoritarian lines up with the parenting style, but authoritative does not line up so well. My opinion from the outside is that it is not clear. They share the same root word from which their meanings derive; I'd assume they were talking about the same parenting style if it wasn't directly pointed out. If you applied these adjectives to Software Development or some other field, I would be hard-pressed to determine a clear distinction.