legitimacy
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What does 'legitimacy' mean in government?
In government, legitimacy refers to the popular acceptance of a governing regime or system. It is a basic condition of rule, without which regimes face deadlock or collapse.
Every regime seeks to justify its reign, historically based on divine origin, but modern legitimacy stems from the will of the people. Max Weber identified traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational types of legitimacy, with modern systems emphasizing legal-rational approaches.
Empirical approaches measure legitimacy through public opinion, assessing beliefs in the appropriateness and worthiness of obedience to existing political orders and laws.
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Why do governments need legitimacy?
Governments require legitimacy because it is a basic condition of rule, without which regimes would face deadlock or collapse. Legitimacy is the popular acceptance of a government, political regime, or system of governance. Every regime seeks to justify its reign, and this justification can be based on various concepts. When governments must rule without consent or when the legitimacy of the regime is widely questioned, they suffer their gravest handicap.
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How can a government gain legitimacy?
A government can gain legitimacy through popular acceptance, which is essential for its stability. This acceptance can be achieved in various ways, such as justifying its rule through different concepts like tradition, charisma, or legal-rational means.
Good institutional performance, which includes eliciting support, confidence, and compliance from citizens, also generates support for the government and the political regime, thus increasing legitimacy. Ensuring that policy processes reflect the values of the citizenry is another way to promote democracy in governance and gain legitimacy.
Accounting for public opinion, though complex, is vital, as governments generally seek to satisfy widespread demands and avoid unpopular decisions. Empirical approaches also show that if people believe that existing political orders or laws are appropriate and worthy of obedience, then those orders and laws are legitimate.
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What might cause people to question a government's legitimacy?
Several factors may cause people to question a government's legitimacy. A government's failure to meet the political and economic needs of its citizens can breed skepticism about the value of democracy, which can result in declining voter turnout and reduced commitment to democratic institutions. Fiscal crises can lead to cuts in government expenditures and increases in taxes, resulting in job losses and falling living standards. The rise of disinformation through social media and the manipulation of public opinion can also undermine trust in a government.
Ultimately, if people believe that the existing political orders or laws are not worthy of obedience, then the government's legitimacy is questioned.
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How do elections influence the legitimacy of a government?
Elections are vital to democratic governance by enabling voters to choose leaders and hold them accountable. Regular elections ensure leaders are responsive to the public will and legitimize their power, even if noncompetitive. Competitive elections expose candidates' records and intentions to public scrutiny, fostering discussion and political education.
Elections reinforce political stability and legitimacy by linking citizens, affirming the polity's viability and facilitating integration. Participation in elections can boost individual self-esteem and provide a sense of belonging, fulfilling a need for personal fulfillment. Formal voting practices ensure that outcomes are valid, reliable, and legitimate.
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What are some examples of governments losing or regaining legitimacy in history?
Legitimacy is the popular acceptance of a government, political regime, or system of governance. Governments can lose legitimacy through wars, military defeats, or economic crises. For example, the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 occurred after national military disasters. Similarly, the French Revolution occurred because people regarded the dynastic states as unacceptable instruments of class oppression and foreign rule.
Governments may regain legitimacy through rationalizing government, adopting the myth of the nation to reinforce state authority, or establishing open channels of political action and settled procedures for resolving grievances. However, empirical studies in Western countries reveal a loss of confidence in almost all advanced democracies.
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legitimacy, popular acceptance of a government, political regime, or system of governance. The word legitimacy can be interpreted in either a normative way or a “positive” (see positivism) way. The first meaning refers to political philosophy and deals with questions such as: What are the right sources of legitimacy? Is a specific political order or regime worthy of recognition? As such, legitimacy is a classic topic of political philosophy. The second meaning relies on empirical approaches that try to measure the degree of popular acceptance of existing regimes or try to test causal explanations for low or high degrees of legitimacy.
Classic definitions and discussions
Gaining legitimacy is a need that is not restricted to liberal democratic regimes but is considered a basic condition of rule, because governing regimes without at least a minimal amount of legitimacy would face deadlock or collapse. Therefore, every regime seeks to justify its reign, and this justification can be based on various concepts. In history there have been competition and changes between different concepts of legitimacy. Traditionally, the reign of monarchs was justified on the grounds of their divine origin. The Enlightenment helped to challenge this religious source of legitimate rule, and democratic revolutions at and after that time declared the will of the people to be the basic source of legitimacy. In this context of modernization, Max Weber developed a typology of forms of legitimacy (legitimate authority) that is still one of the most important points of reference. He differentiated a traditional, a charismatic, and a legal-rational type of legitimacy. He basically diagnosed a historical transformation from traditional to legal-rational types of legitimacy, in which legitimacy based on the charisma of a (revolutionary) leader formed a transitory phenomenon.
Weber’s description of the modern type of legitimacy as legal-rational points to an orientation among modern conceptions of legitimacy that is strongest in the German-speaking world. A constitutionalist conception of legitimacy puts most emphasis on regular procedures employed to formulate the will of the people and also on normative limitations and judiciary controls of governing majorities to secure equal treatment and individual liberty. In contrast, conceptions of democratic legitimacy in the Anglo-Saxon world focus more on the aspects of popular participation and regime accountability secured by free and fair elections combined with a system of political checks and balances (in contrast to the legalistic approach of inter-institutional control in the constitutionalist perspective). Another line of thinking about democratic legitimacy, which has mainly French origins, has a different, more collectivist understanding of the will of the people. Not so much the rules and the opportunities to participate but the affective commitment to the community and to its administrative representations lays the basis for democratic legitimacy. In consequence, patriotism and civic nationalism secure loyalty to the system of governance.
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Collectivist approaches to democratic legitimacy based on a materialist worldview see the legitimacy of the governing regime primarily based on securing economic prosperity and equality. In communist states this line of thinking led to the subordination of all social subsystems under the political system, because only full control especially over the economic system enables the political system to implement the will of the people. In Western countries after World War II, thinking about democratic legitimacy concentrated more on the output or performance of democratic regimes. The relationship between legitimacy and effectiveness of a political system was cast mainly in such a form that legitimacy was seen as a substitute for effectiveness. In such a perspective, legitimacy creates a reservoir of goodwill (diffuse support) and increases the willingness of the people to tolerate shortcomings of effectiveness (which reduces specific support).
Whereas in the Anglo-Saxon world the relationship between legitimacy and effectiveness has been at the centre of debates, the discourse on legitimacy in Germany traditionally has had another focal point—the relationship between form (legality) and substance (morality) of legitimate rule. The differentiation of form/procedures and norm/substance of legitimate rule has been the basis for the establishment of a secular and liberal state and the distinction of “positive” law from theology and philosophy. Nevertheless, the German experiences with an inhumane Nazi regime, which based its rule officially on popular consent and on bureaucratic mechanisms for policy implementation, reinvigorated the constitutionalist tradition of complementing and restricting formally legitimate rule by substantive values.
Empirical approaches
Empirical approaches emphasize the subjective aspect of democratic legitimacy. If people believe that existing political orders or laws are appropriate and worthy of obedience, then those orders and laws are legitimate. By using polls and other empirical methods, researchers try to reveal these subjectively held beliefs on democratic legitimacy. Nevertheless, it is not easy to measure this phenomenon accurately, because legitimacy is an abstract concept. Therefore, it is mostly measured indirectly by asking about political trust or confidence. Empirical studies in Western countries reveal that there has been a loss of confidence in almost all advanced democracies. But there are significant differences with respect to what this gap of confidence refers to. Ruling parties and leaders face a high degree of mistrust, and many institutions that have central functions for classic liberal democracies such as parliament, parties, and public bureaucracies have to deal with low confidence. Nevertheless, only small minorities are dissatisfied or not at all satisfied with the way democracy functions in their country, and even fewer people declare themselves in favour of radical change. Vast majorities still adhere to their democratic systems.