The concept of "legitimacy"social sciences(sociology, politics, etc.).The broad concept of legitimacy is used to discuss social order and norms (Weber 1998:5-11;Rhoads 1991：167），orSpecification system(Habermas 1989:211).The narrow concept of legitimacy is used to understand the governance type of the state (Weber 1987:241), orpolitical order (Habermas 1989:184).
Chinese name
Legitimacy
Foreign name
Legitimacy
Generalized
Used to discuss social order and norms
Narrow sense
Understand the governance type or political order of the country
Legitimacy is a word in English, while in Chinese, its main part consists of "combination" and "law". Literally speaking, the implied meaning of legitimacy in Chinese is "the degree of compliance with a certain 'law'", so many Chinese people often raise a question when discussing this word: "Which 'law' in 'legitimacy' refers to?”。
But in fact, since the word "legitimacy" in China's formal, legal and political sense is translated from "Legitimacy", the word "law" in Chinese "legitimacy" does not specifically refer to a "law" or "regulation".
The Chinese word "legal" (corresponding to the English word "legal") is used to describe something that does not violate the law."Legitimacy" does not mean the degree of "legitimacy", but the discussion of the source of the authority of laws or government agencies.In view of this confusion of semantic understanding, some scholars also proposed that Chinese should be used“Justification”To describe.
definition
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The term legitimacy is usually used in politics to refer to the extent to which the authority of government and law is recognized by the public.
The concept of legitimacy has also been applied to non political fields related to authority issues, such as the authority of employers.Marxismideological systemThen discuss the wholecapitalismPoliticseconomic system The legitimacy of the.
There are two different ways to interpret "legitimacy":
*From the perspective of moral philosophy
*From the perspective of politics.
Moral philosophy mainly judges whether something is "legal" from the perspective of individuals.From the perspective of politics, the legitimacy of a system depends on whether it is universally recognized by the ruled.Generally, politics is more concerned with legitimacy than moral philosophy.Legitimacy is always related to the concepts of commitment, consent, approval, acquiescence, etc.
Legitimacy is considered the most importantBasic conditionsIf a government lacks the necessary degree of legitimacy, it will soon collapse.Corresponding to the legitimacy of political powerEnglish vocabulary Is validity.The first to study "legitimacy"max weber He believes that if we want to maintain the lasting existence of the rule, we must arouse the belief of legitimacy.Robert Dahl(Robert A. Dahl) When talking about legitimacy, he compares it to aReservoir: As long as it can be kept at a certain level, it will be stable.If it falls below this level, it will be in danger.A regime usually needs the approval of the majority of the people to maintain its power.But here is an exception: many regimes that are not accepted by the majority of people pass through a small part of societyElite classAnd make its regime seem legitimate.
From the perspective of law, legitimacy is not equal to compliance with the law.Some actions may not violate the law, but they do not have legitimacy.For example, some laws that violate humanity do not have legitimacy in themselves.Such laws are often found in autocratic regimes, and the illegality of their laws stems from the illegality of the rule of their makers.Some actions may violate the law, but they are legitimate.For example, Rosa Parks did not cooperate in the campaign for black human rights.When various branches of the government conflict over the source of legitimacy, it often causes constitutional crisis.
Areas involved
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The broad concept of legitimacy involves a wide range of social fields, which is broader than law and politics, and potentially contains a wide range of societyApplicability。Weber's so-called legal order consists of morality, religion, custom and convention（convention）And law (Reinstein 1998:38).Rhodes once summed up: "In a word, Weber's legal order includes such rules that are empirically effective, and they are divided into practice and law due to the difference in the way of implementation" (Rhoads 1991:168).The rules that are guaranteed to be followed by professionals and institutions are laws, and the rules that society naturally follows are conventions.Legitimacy refers to compliance with certain rules, and the law is only one of the more special rulesSocial rulesThere are also rules, standards, principles, models, values, logic and so on.Therefore, legitimacy can be based onlegal proceedings, or certainsocial value Or precedents followed by the Community.
source
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democratic
The most common source of government legitimacy today is the implementation of democratic politics and compliance with public opinion.The government often proposes laws in line with public opinion to implement governance, but the source of such laws varies from regime to regime.Liberal democracy The legitimacy of democracy comes from its regular, free and fair election campaign.
A democratic country can also gain legitimacy if its people believe that the country has the following factors:
*Free and fair elections
*Responsible
*A rigorous constitution, or a highly respected "constitutional tradition" (such asSaudi ArabiaTake the Koran as the Constitution)
*Broad participation
*Powerful and independent media
*"Check and balance" system
*Economic stability
*Political stability
Some despotismState powerIt also claims the legitimacy of democracy.In fact, their values run counter to the concept of freedom and democracy, which has caused many debates on the meaning of democracy.Communist countriesIt is usually claimed that it has democratic legitimacy, and this legitimacy is attributed to the people's revolution led by communist countries and the representation of the people with Marxist "scientific principles".NazismandFascismOf supporters also claimed that they represented the majority of the public opinionLiberal democracy More reliable.
A democratic country is not subject to a single leader orruling party, and is considered to be relatively stable.The abdication of those in power in an autocratic country may lead to the collapse of the entire government system.However, in most democratic countries, the ruling parties rotate peacefully without causing anyState SystemChange on.Even in the most authoritarian countries, citizens can still seek a new legitimacy through revolution to replace it.
Constitutionalism
Another form of legitimacy is related to politics, which includesConstitutionalism(Constitutionalism) Or it is legal to trust an act that follows a formal procedure (such as the Constitution).The legitimacy of this form is related to politics, because the legitimacy of this kind of constitutional procedure stems from its basis in line with public opinion.However, because such procedures need to conform to the mainstream public opinion, sometimes they may not protect the interests of minorities.
nationalism
Patriotism andnationalismIt can arouse loyalty to the country.This can take many forms.The democracy described above is sometimes called "national nationalism" (civicnationalism）。Other forms of nationalism that may be beneficial to the country include:
*RacismRacist countries derive legitimacy from cultural and traditional groups.
*Religious nationalism, religious nationalism gains legitimacy through common religion.
Traditionalism
stayMonarchyThe king can gain the legitimacy of universal recognition because he is just in the kingdomFeudal lord, this understanding is often“Divine Mandate”Such publicity is strengthened.This form of legitimacy still exists in some practices todayAbsolute monarchyandConstitutional monarchyCountry.In a constitutional monarchy, the legitimacy of the traditional monarch is derived from a combination of democracy andconstitutionalismSource of legitimacy.
Its foundation
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Legitimacy must be based on a common recognition, which can be mysterious or secular.The most classic understanding of the basis of legitimacy isMax Weber He divided it into traditional type, legal type and Krisma type (personal charm type).
*Traditional: legitimacy comes from traditionalSacrednessAnd traditional rulers appointed to exercise authority
*Legal type: legitimacy comes fromlegal systemAnd the ruler's command power
*Charming type: from the heroic extraordinary individual and the sanctity of the system he implied and created
Weber believes that the above types areIdeal typeThe forms of legitimacy in history are a mixture of these three types to varying degrees.
In contemporary countries, legitimacy is more dependent onpolitical powerOfEffectivenessThis is also one of the basic characteristics of modern politics.This includes whether the government can effectively manage social affairs and whether the economy cansustained development。This depends on the financial capacity and policy capacity of the government.
Expert discussion
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When Weber and Habermas discussed the legitimacy of rule, they both used the concept of legitimacy in a narrow sense.Legal rule is one of the various forms of legal order, which includes the recognition of the ruled.Habermas said that legitimacy meanspolitical order Recognized values and de facto recognition (Habermas 1989:184).The rule can be recognized by the ruled because the rule or basis that the rule can be established is acceptable, even recognized and agreed by the ruled.Theoretically, the rule is recognized because of its legitimacy. However, from the perspective of sociological research, the rule is legitimate only because it is recognized.This sociological research based on recognition indicators has methodological significance for us to understand the legitimacy of current associations in China.
Weber andjurgen habermas The legitimate rule of discourse is the recognition of "lower" to "upper".The discussion on cultural pluralism extends recognition to the relationship between groups (parallel recognition), the relationship between those in power and the ruled groups (recognition of "upper" and "lower"), which constitutes a heterogeneity within a communityCultural groups"Politics of recognition", specific culture or groups with specific culture gain their legitimacy through this process（Taylor1998）。Therefore, when we analyze the legitimacy of associations from the recognition obtained by associations, we can define the subject of recognition as the state, government departments and their representatives, as well as various unitsSocial groups, including individuals in society.The recognition of the state and government departments is linked with the consent and authorization of associations to carry out activities.The recognition of units and other social groups is linked to cooperation and the provision of resources.Individual recognition is linked to individual participation.Community activity is a public activity of a group or organization. The legitimacy given to it by these three subjects is the basis for it to carry out public activities.
