The word legitimacy is often interpreted in a normative Norms are sentences or concepts with practical, i. e. action-oriented import. Norms imply "ought"-type statements or assertions, in distinction to descriptions which provide "is"-type statements or assertions. Some common sentences that are norms include commands, permissions, and prohibitions. Some common concepts that are or a positive way. In a normative sense, legitimacy gets greater attention as a part of moral philosophy Ethics is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and bad, noble and ignoble, right and wrong, justice, and virtue. It is a status conferred by the people on the government's officials, acts, and institution through their belief that the government's actions are an appropriate use of power by a legally constituted governmental authority following correct decisions on making policies.

According to the German political philosopher Dolf Sternberger, "Legitimacy is the foundation of such governmental power as is exercised both with a consciousness on the government's part that it has a right to govern and with some recognition by the governed of that right."[1] The American political sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset Seymour Martin Lipset was an American political sociologist. Seymour Lipset was a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Hazel Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University. His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual argues, it also "involves the capacity of a political system to engender and maintain the belief that existing political institutions are the most appropriate and proper ones for the society."[2]

Something becomes legitimate when one approves of it. In a positive sense, legitimacy gets greater attention in political science. For example, an institution is perceived as legitimate, if approval for that institution is general among those people subject to its authority. According to John Locke John Locke , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered the first of the British empiricists, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political, the British social contractualist, issues of legitimacy are linked to those of consent Consent can be either expressed or implied. For example, participation in a contact sport usually implies consent to contact by other participants, when contact is permitted by the rules of the sport. Express consent exists when verbal or written contractual agreement occurs, both explicit and tacit. "The argument of the [Second] Treatise is that the government is not legitimate unless it is carried on with the consent of the governed."[3]

Legitimacy in political science Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. Political scientists "see themselves engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. And from these revelations they attempt to construct, is the popular acceptance of a governing regime In politics, a regime is the form of government: the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of government and its interactions with society. For instance, the United States has one of the oldest regimes still active in the world, dating to the ratification of its Constitution in 1789. Although modern usage often or law as an authority Authority, from the Latin word auctoritas, means invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. Essentially authority is imposed by superiors upon inferiors either by force of arms or by force of argument (sapiential authority). Usually authority has components of both compulsion and persuasion. For this reason, as used in Roman law, authority. Whereas authority refers to a specific position in an established government, the term legitimacy is used when describing a system of government itself—where government may be generalized to mean the wider "sphere of influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is an area or region over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence." It is considered a basic condition for rule: without at least a minimal amount of which, a government will lead to frequent deadlocks or collapse in the long run.

The American political theorist Robert A. Dahl Robert Alan Dahl , is the Sterling Professor emeritus of political science at Yale University, where he earned his Ph.D. in political science in 1940. He is past president of the American Political Science Association and one of the most distinguished political scientists writing today. Dahl has often been described as "the Dean" of, has explained the concept of legitimacy by using the metaphor of a reservoir. For example, as long as the reservoir stays at a certain level stability can be maintained, if it falls below the required level it is endangered. Regimes in most states require the assent of a large proportion of the population in order to retain power. In several countries this is not the case: many unpopular regimes have survived because they are supported and considered as legitimate by a small but influential elite.[4]

In the case of laws, legitimacy should be distinguished from legality. Action can be legal without being legitimate (as in the case of an immoral law). Action can also be legitimate without being legal. When sources of legitimacy clash with one another, constitutional crisis A constitutional crisis is a severe breakdown in the orderly operation of government. Generally speaking, a constitutional crisis is a situation in which separate factions within a government disagree about the extent to which each of these factions hold sovereignty. Most commonly, constitutional crises involve some degree of conflict between erupts. Legitimacy as a concept is often applied to other, non-political, kinds of authority, and also to issues concerning the legitimacy of entire political-economic systems (such as capitalism Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned; supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are determined mainly by private decisions in the free market, rather than by the state through central economic planning or through democratic planning; profit is distributed to owners who invest in) as discussed in the Marxist Marxism is a particular political philosophy, economic and sociological worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and a view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The three primary aspects of Marxism are: tradition.

Contents

Types of legitimacy

Numinous legitimacy

The dominion of a godking of which ancient Egypt offers the best example, is the theological doctrine according to which every Pharaoh is himself (among other things) the god Horus, son of Osiris. The doctrine seems to go back to the very origin of the empire.

The Roman Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. The Church's leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches (called priesthood derived its legitimacy and still does from a source very similar to that of the kingship; according to official doctrine the Papal office is based on Christ's designation of St. Peter, which continues to sanctify and legitimize the rule of every successive pope.

Civil legitimacy

Civil legitimacy exists when a system of government is based on agreement between equally autonomous constituents who have combined to cooperate towards some common good. Every modern constitutional system or every system of representational government is founded either on a basic agreement to follow certain rules or at least on a justifiable assumption that a basic agreement to follow certain rules exists[citation needed]. Modern constitutional government makes one characteristic of civil legitimacy particularly clear: Governmental offices are ordered by trust rather than exercised by dominion. This is expressed in the institution of public elections.

Sources of legitimacy

Weber's three sources

The German A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, economist An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are many sub-fields, ranging from the broad philosophical theories to the focused study of minutiae within specific markets, and sociologist Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Subject matter Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil "Max" Weber (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) was a German sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the remit of sociology itself. Weber's major works dealt with the rationalization and so-called "disenchantment" which he associated with the rise of, argued that there are three forms of legitimacy, and that all human societies, across history, have been based on them.

Weber, like the British philosopher Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory, had an extremely negative and pessimistic view of human nature Human nature is the concept that there is a set of inherent distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have, and believed that societies often went through cycles. Weber did not see democracy Democracy is a political form of government where governing power is derived from the people, either by direct referendum or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative democracy). The term comes from the Greek: δημοκρατία - (dēmokratía) "rule of the people", which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) & as being necessary for legitimacy, as a government could be legitimized through laws and principles not established by a vote Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics. Weber also claimed that it is perfectly possible for a modern society to revert back and become a follower of a brutal form of charismatic leadership, a phenomenon which later occurred in his home country of Germany under Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and, after 1934, also head of state as Führer und Reichskanzler, ruling the and which was also witnessed in other parts of the world, such as Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism's Italy.

The French political scientist Mattei Dogan Mattei Dogan is a French political sociologist and senior research officer emeritus of the French National Center for Scientific Research and professor emeritus of political science of the University of California, Los Angeles. Over a period of 22 years, he has crossed the Atlantic Ocean every spring to teach at UCLA and other American, offers a more contemporary conception of this typology of legitimacy. While Weber’s typology (traditional/charismatic/legal-rational) was seminal throughout the previous centuries, Dogan argues that it is insufficient to cover the complex relationships between legitimacy and political systems.[5] In fact, in Prof. Dogan's view, the first two types (traditional and charismatic) are today obsolete. A fairly recent example of charismatic legitimacy was the Ayatollah Khomeini Grand Ayatollah Sayyed[citation needed] Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini (Persian: روح الله موسوی خمینی, pronounced [ruːhollɑːhe muːsæviːje xomejniː] [add stress]; 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza in Iran. Dogan believes that traditional authority has disappeared completely, with the exception of two or three regimes in the Middle East The Middle East is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt. In some contexts, the term has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and North Africa. It's often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern (such as Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكه العربيه السعوديه‎) is the largest Arab country of the Middle East. It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Persian Gulf lies to the northeast and the Red Sea). The third type called rational-legal is, in Dogan's view, an amalgamation of many varieties, to such a degree that they no longer constitute a "type."

Different forms of government and legitimacy

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be and removed. (February 2009)

Legitimacy is an essentially contested concept In a paper delivered to the Aristotelian Society on 12 March 1956, Walter Bryce Gallie introduced the term essentially contested concept to facilitate an understanding of the different applications or interpretations of the sorts of abstract, qualitative, and evaluative notions — such as "art" and "social justice" — used in. Constitutionalism is a modern concept that desires a political order governed by laws and regulations. It stands for the supremacy of law and not of the individuals; it imbibes the principles of nationalism, democracy and limited government. Political legitimacy involves constitutionalism or the belief that an action is legitimate because it follows regular procedures which are part of the law of the land. This form of legitimacy is related to democracy as the justification of these constitutional procedures is agreed to by popular consent. According to Friedrich, constitutionalism by dividing power provides a system of effective restraints upon governmental action. It is a body of rules ensuring fair play and rendering the government responsible.

In monarchies A monarchy is a form of government in which all political power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual or individuals. As a political entity, the monarch is the head of state, generally until their death or abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state." The person who heads a monarchy is called a, the Ruler gained legitimacy through the popular perception that he was the rightful ruler of the province. This perception was often enhanced by propagating the belief that he was divinely ordained to hold his post and this was advocated through the Divine origin theory, and/or the divine right of kings The Divine Right of Kings is a political and religious doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm, including the church. According to. This form of legitimacy remains today in the form of absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government where the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, thus wielding political power over the sovereign state and its subject peoples. In an absolute monarchy, the transmission of power is two-fold, hereditary and marital; as absolute governor, the where the monarch still has effective power, for example in Saudi Arabia. Constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution where traditional sources of legitimacy have been combined with democratic and constitutional sources of legitimacy is prevalent in many European countries.

Democracy is often perceived as the most popular form of government. The most common source of legitimacy today is the perception that a government is operating under democratic Democracy is a political form of government where governing power is derived from the people, either by direct referendum or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative democracy). The term comes from the Greek: δημοκρατία - (dēmokratía) "rule of the people", which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) & principles and is subject to the will of the people. This is because it is claimed that democracy is based on the will of the people. Governments often claim a popular mandate In politics, a mandate is the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative to exercise power; however, how this mandate is derived can vary sharply from regime to regime. Liberal democratic Liberal democracy is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, the elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive. Political pluralism is usually defined as the presence of multiple and distinct political parties states claim democratic legitimacy on the grounds that they have regular free and fair contested elections in which political parties participate without any fear or pressure. It has been claimed that liberal democratic states can be remarkably stable because the legitimacy of the state is not tied to an individual ruler or ruling party. According to this argument, in a dictatorial state, deposing the ruler can lead to total collapse in the system of government. However, in most well-functioning liberal democracies the ruling party is regularly replaced peacefully without any constitutional change or major upheavals. A liberal democratic state gains legitimacy also on the following grounds that a rigid written constitution or well-respected constitutional conventions which are upheld by the judiciary within the state is in existence. Popular participation of people in large numbers takes place in democracy. Strong and independent media Mass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a large audience. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such as books and manuscripts had already been in use for centuries which are unbiased and free from the control of the government exist in democracy. A system of "checks and balances The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. Under this model, the state is divided into branches, each with separate and" and control of one organ of the state by another (as in the United States, for example[6]) is also common in democracy. There is economic stability with continuity in policies for a specific period as governments are elected for a fixed tenure.

Communist states A communist state is a sovereign state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state often claim democratic legitimacy on the grounds that they have won a popular revolution and are acting on behalf of the people in accordance with the scientific rules of Marxism Marxism is a particular political philosophy, economic and sociological worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and a view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The three primary aspects of Marxism are:. In 1930s Germany and Italy, Nazism Nazism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany. It was a unique variety of fascism that involved biological racism and anti-Semitism. Nazism presented itself as politically syncretic, incorporating policies, tactics and philosophies from right- and left-wing ideologies; in practice, Nazism was a far right form of and Fascism Fascism, pronounced /ˈfæʃɪzəm/, is a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy. Fascism was originally founded by Italian national syndicalists in World War I who combined left-wing and both claimed to represent the will of the people more directly and authentically than liberal democracy. The German jurist, Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt was a German jurist, political theorist, and professor of law, discussed the problem of democratic legitimacy in the late years of the Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic ( Weimarer Republik , IPA: [ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk]) is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government. It was named after Weimar, the city where the constitutional assembly took place. Its official name was Deutsches Reich (sometimes in his 1932 polemic treatise Legalitaet und Legitimitaet.[7] 51% of parliamentary votes make for law and legality, Prof. Schmitt stated somewhat sarcastically, without ever asking why the remaining 49% accept the majority 51% decision.

See also

References

  1. ^ Sternberger, Dolf "Legitimacy" in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (ed. D.L. Sills) Vol. 9 (p. 244) New York: Macmillan, 1968
  2. ^ Lipset, Seymour Martin Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (2nd ed.) (p. 64) London: Heinemann, 1983
  3. ^ Ashcraft, Richard (ed.) John Locke: Critical Assessments (p. 524) London: Routledge, 1991
  4. ^ Dahl, Robert A. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (pp. 124-188) New Haven (CT) and London: Yale University Press, 1971
  5. ^ Dogan, Mattei "Conceptions of Legitimacy" in Encyclopedia of Government and Politics (2nd ed.) (ed. Mary Hawkesworth and Maurice Kogan) Vol. 2 (pp. 116-219) London: Routledge, 2003
  6. ^ Charlton, Roger Political Realities: Comparative Government (p. 23) London: Longman, 1986
  7. ^ Schmitt, Carl Legality and Legitimacy (Jeffrey Seitzer trans.) Durham (NC): Duke University Press, 2004

Categories: Political science terms

 

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In submitting a cabinet without the approval of his opposition, Lebanese PM-in-waiting Saad Hariri is risking his . political. future Lebanese prime-minister-​in-waiting Saad Hariri has rolled the . political. dice in presenting a cabinet for approval to the president without a ... More than three months have passed since the 7 June elections supposedly boosted the pro-western 14 March alliance and curbed the democratic . legitimacy. of the Hezbollah-led 8 March opposition. ...

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