Chapter 4 - Democracy and Legitimacy
Legitimacy: broadly means rightfulness, conferring on an order or command an authoritative or
binding character, thus transforming power into authority. Philosophers see legitimacy in moral
or rational terms, whereas political scientists view it rather in sociological terms, meaning
willingness to comply with a system of rule regardless of how this is achieved.
● How do states maintain legitimacy?
Max Weber categorized particular ‘systems of domination’ to help identify the basis on
which legitimacy was established.
1. Traditional authority
- People obey this type of regime because it has always existed
- A body of concrete rules that can’t be questioned because things have
always been that way
- Usually found in tribes or small groups in forms of patriarchism
- Linked to hereditary systems of power and privilege (survival of dynasty
and monarchy for example)
2. Charismatic authority
- The power of an individual’s personality/charisma
- Operates entirely through the capacity of a leader to make a direct and
personal appeal to followers as a kind of hero or saint
- Underpinned by cults of personality -> manufacturing charisma
- Consequences: 1. The followers will submit and obey because the
leader seems unquestionable, becoming followers to their hero
2. The system cannot outlive the its founding figure
- E.g. Hitler, Fidel Castro, Mussolini, Napoleon, Colonel Gaddafi
3. Legal-rational authority
- Typical form of authority in modern states
- The power of the leading figures in government is determined by formal,
constitutional rules which constrain or limit what they are able to do
- Less likely to be abused or give rise to injustice
- Limited government
- Promotes efficiency through a rational division of labor
- Problem: it can create an inhuman social environment led by
bureaucracy
● Any modern societies facing a crisis of legitimation?
Crisis in legitimation has different causes. For example, Neo Marxists have said that
there is an inherent difficulty of legitimizing a political system that is based on unequal
, class power. (Habermas, Offe) When the government tries to give into the expansion of
social rights in order to build legitimacy in a system completely reliant on expansion and
profit, it is impossible to find a balance between maintaining profit and keeping the
country’s economy competitive while also satisfy popular demands for social security
and welfare rights. -> crisis tendencies (Habermas)
Another cause of a crisis in legitimation is the government overload (Anthony King,
Richard Rose), which describes a process where there is a lot of pressure on the
government to satisfy demands of pressure groups, as well as politicians and political
parties outbidding one another during elections in order to get into power. There is also a
rise in corporatism, which can lead the government agencies to depend on organized
groups, often leading to a significant shift in political and ideological priorities. E.g. the
emergence of the New Right as a response to the fiscal crisis of the welfare state
Crisis of legitimation: Arab Spring (2011), Eastern Europe (1990s), Vietnam (1970s),
global financial crisis of 2007-09, trend towards neoliberalism, globalization changing the
way the state governs
● Why is political legitimacy so often linked to the claim to be democratic?
Because democracy can be seen to promote legitimacy in different ways.
1. Consent
-> expands legitimacy by giving people more opportunities to be more active in politics
(act of voting, protesting, joining political parties, interest groups)
2. Democratic governance as a notion of compromise, conciliation and negotiation
-> bringing opposing groups of though together, living in relative peace
3. Democracy as a feedback system to promote political stability
-> legitimation crises can be managed effectively
-> undermines potential for civil strife, revolution, rebellion
-> governments can be removed and policies can be changed in a democracy
However:
- Growing dissatisfaction with the democratic systems in mature democratic
societies, portrayed in a popular trend of disengagement with the political
process
- New political forces have emerged to at least threaten conventional democratic
structure
- Populism & democracy?
:) both are for majority rule and popular sovereignty
:) give political voice to significant sections to the public that feel excluded from
the collective decision-making process
:( anti pluralist, deny legitimacy of opponents
:( anti liberal (nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of popular will)
