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.

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.

What made you want to look up legitimacy?
(Please limit to 900 characters)
Please select the sections you want to print
Select All
MLA style:
"legitimacy". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
APA style:
legitimacy. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1937866/legitimacy
Harvard style:
Chicago Manual of Style:
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "legitimacy", accessed May 05, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1937866/legitimacy.


Editing Tools:
We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles.
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Harvard
  • Chicago
You have successfully emailed this.
Error when sending the email. Try again later.

Or click Continue to submit anonymously: