The Legitimation of Power

Abstract

Why does power need legitimation? How do we know whether power is legitimate or not? By what criteria should we judge the legitimacy of power-holde rs in societies and political systems different from our own 9 What happens when legitimation tails? These difficult and contentious questions have been brought sharply mc focus by the European revolutions of 1989 and recent political upheavals in other continerts. m -LE GI TIM AT iON n this important and orijinai book David Beetham otters an analysis oi legitimacy that departs radically from the accoon s g von by most soc al scientists since Max Weber The first part examines me nature of power relations, including class and gender relations, and argues that legitimacy is not just a iratter of subjective acquiescence or belief, but has a normative structure which must be OF PO W ER investigated by any theory which aims to explain and predict The second part uses the analysis of legitimacy thus developed to throw new light on the dilemmas of the contemporar y state and of Gif'erent polticai systems. It examines the faiiure of the communist model and of liberal democracy outside its capitalist heartiands, and assesses the attempts of regimes in the Middle East to derive a reilgious legitimation from lsmm The breakdown of legitimacy in revolution and coup d'etat, the author argues, not ony unaerlines the significance of legitimacy for the contemporar y state; it also Davi d Bee thaiii