<p>The premise of this article is that climate change gives rise to eco-affects and societal uncertainty, which can accompany a rise in the popularity of authoritarian leaders and governments. I contend that authoritarianism and other political maladies, such as totalitarianism, fascism, demagoguery, and despotism, have a common root, namely, the collective belief that sovereignty is absolutely necessary for ordering society and maintaining its stability. To begin to understand authoritarianism, I briefly explicate what is meant by the notion of “political,” since it is foundational to the discussion of both sovereignty and authoritarianism. This sets the stage for arguing that a core foundation of Western political philosophies and theologies is the belief, more accurately illusion, that sovereignty is existentially necessary for any polis/ecclesia. From here I contend that authoritarianism represents a particular pernicious aberration of sovereignty. While authoritarianism arises from the soil of sovereignty, it is not inevitable but rather depends on conditions of heightened uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. To deepen the analysis, I rely on concepts derived from a political pastoral theology and psychoanalysis.</p>