Authors: Kuper & Kuper
Summary: In approximately 1000 words this entry discusses the origins of the concept of legitimacy, the contributions of Max Weber, the recent challenges to Weber by JÂrgen Habermas and others, and contemporary approaches by political scientists to studying legitimacy.
Questions about the legitimacy of different forms of rule have existed since the beginning of systematic thinking about human communities. Classical theories did not discuss legitimacy explicitly, but rather focused on general conceptions of order and lawfulness. Modern theories, however, speak explicitly about the problems of legitimacy and legitimation. The entry dates the beginning of this modern approach to Rousseau's Social Contract, but proclaims Max Weber the greatest modern theorist of legitimacy.
The entry briefly sketches Weber's work by juxtaposing it with that of his critics, such as Jurgen Habermas. Weber's approach to understanding legitimacy includes a tripartite typology of ideal types of legitimate domination (traditional, charismatic and legal-rational). Weber's approach was a sociological one, and this has been criticized sharply. The entry also briefly introduces contributions to this debate by Rorty, Lyotard and Foucault.
The final section of this entry focuses on contemporary approaches to studying legitimacy within the discipline of political science. This work falls into three general categories of inquiry: empirical hypothesis testing, theories of illegitimacy, and the state/civil society framework. The entry concludes by observing legitimacy's central role in the social and political sciences.