Session 8: Legitimation and modern societies

Legitimacy refers to rightfulness; it transforms power into authority. A legitimation crisis refers to a loss in confidence of leadership or administrative abilities. However, this, in turn raises several issues which have been debated over long and hard. The issue of political obligation is one such; do citizens have a duty to respect the state?

Max Weber describes three bases on which legitimacy of political rule is established. These were traditional, charismatic and legal-rational authority. Examples of traditional authority can be found in historic France where Kings derived their power from tradition (Louis XIV). Individuals appealed by Bhutto’s charismatic personality were example of charismatic authority. Similarly, an example of legal-rational authority can be President Barack Obama; he derives his authority from laws outlined in a formal document, better known as a constitution.

The question of whether modern societies are legitimate or not are a complex one.  We can no longer ask intelligibly why a peasant should submit to the authority of his lord. Nor, in an age of that has been 'disenchanted', can one point (without controversy) to an objective moral order that is 'out there' to ground the exercise of legitimate power. In the modern world we are constituted as individuals with no fixed place in a social or moral order. no-one is confined to a particular social role just by virtue of their caste or family. Any justification of power has then to be a justification to people; to individuals with private interests and ambitions who are apt to reserve to themselves the judgement of what they ought and ought not to do in particular circumstances.

A number of societies have faced a legitimation crisis in the past where individuals had lost confidence in the state. An example of this was the US presidential elections of 2000. Although Al gore had won popular vote, George Bush still won the elections. People questioned the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and the presidency after the decision was released.

The European Union which governs over 28 countries gives them the right to veto laws. The Union suffered through a legitimation crisis when it wanted to pass a constitution which was overridden by a referendum held in France in 2005.

Therefore, it can be argued that it si difficult to maintain legitimacy in modern societies due to complex factors prevailing.