The princes definitely have varying levels of "Power" In skyrim alone, a few examples come to mind.
- Peryite- He is fairly well known as the weakest prince, this is commonly displayed on loading screens
- Clavicus vile- He openly admits during his quest to being only slightly more powerful than the player character, due to his weakened state.
- Molag Bal v. Boethia- The two are bitter rivals, at a bit of a stalemate with one another.
Now, whether there is an actual hierarchy in place is questionable. However, one thing remains absolutely certain in my mind. Those who seem most powerful, have the most followers. ie. Azura, Nocturnal, Mehrunes Dagon, Sheogorath.
My theory is that while they may be god-like, they are not truly divine and do not have divine power. I know, it's pretty much a given. But I look at it this way: They do not have the ability to freely affect the mortal world. They are required to work through, more or less, the free will of mortals. This does not mean that they can not trick mortals into doing their bidding, or scare them into submission, or bribe them with artifacts. It means that they are very limited unless they can manifest themselves in a shrine or some sort of vessel. Shrines are obvious, but a vessel could be an artifact or even a person. Nocturnal operates in this way with the thieves guild. One HUGE example is Sheogorath in oblivion. He puts a door in niben bay and explains how it does not violate the pact with mundus. People only enter the door if they choose to.
Obviously this could be governed by a set of completely incomprehensible rules. It's just something interesting to think about. People often say the daedra are evil; Yet that is not the case. They represent an opportunity, good or bad. Daedra do not have morality. They serve only specific, yet often unknown, purposes.
In other words, deadra provide the matches, nirn is the gasoline, and mortals light the fire.