Legitimacy

Legitimacy In political science, legitimacy is the popular acceptance of a governing law or régime as an authority. Whereas “authority” denotes a specific position in an established government, the term “legitimacy” denotes a system of government — wherein “government” denotes “sphere of influence” (an area or region over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence). Political legitimacy is considered a basic condition for governing, without which, a government will suffer legislative deadlock(s) and collapse. In political systems where this is not the case, unpopular régimes survive because they are considered legitimate by a small, influential élite. The German economist and sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) identified three sources of political legitimacy i.e. charismatic authority, traditional authority, and rational-legal authority. Charismatic authority is derived from the leader’s charisma, based upon the perception that he or she possesses supernatural attributes, e.g. a clan chieftain, a priestess. Famous examples of people who have strong charismatic authority are Mahatma Gandhi, Adolph Hitler, and Mother Teresa. Traditional authority is derived from tradition, wherein the governed populace accepts that form of government as legitimate because of its longevity by customs, e.g. monarchy. Example of traditional legitimacy in India is the India National Congress. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants in its struggle against British rule in India. After independence in 1947, it became the nation's dominant political party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi family for the most part. Rational – legal authority is derived from the popular perception that the government's power derives from established law and custom (a political constitution), e.g. representative democracy.. This type of authority is empowered by a formalistic belief in the content of law (legal) or natural law (rational). People don’t give their obedience to a leader –no matter how charismatic- but to a set of uniform principles. It’s a system of laws and rules that people follow. This form is found in the modern city and state governments. When a president is elected doesn’t mean that he will have a divine and unlimited power. No matter what law a president wants to execute, he has to make sure that it doesn’t interfere with the constitutional law.