Authorization is the process of verifying what actions an authenticated user or process has permission to perform. It determines the level of access or privileges granted to a user, ensuring that they can only access resources and perform actions that they are permitted to. Authorization typically follows authentication and uses role-based access control (RBAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC), or other access control models to enforce security policies. Authorization is crucial for protecting sensitive data and resources, maintaining compliance, and ensuring that users have appropriate access within a web application.