Understanding legitimacy through legality of legal norms and moral foundations of political power

Abstract

The aim of this study was to clarify the concept of “legitimacy” used in theory of state and law, as the term often leads to confusion due to the plurality of its meanings in different contexts. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that the usage of legitimacy can be still be primarily categorized into two directions: legal legitimacy and moral legitimacy. Legal legitimacy represents the normative side of the concept and seeks to establish a hierarchy of legal orders, with the juspositivists like Kelsen and Hart advocating for grundnorm and rule of recognition and jusnaturalists like Aquinas and Sir Blackstone defending the supremacy of the natural law. Moral legitimacy discusses the sources contributing to the “right to rule” from the perspectives of consensus that derive from Aristotle’s advocacy for political stability and Rousseau’s social contract, and perspective of conflict that roots in Maciavelli’s distrust of human nature and Marx’s class struggle. By contrasting the theories of a variety of legal and political philosophers, this paper produced an overview of the evolution of legitimacy, which allows the readers to form a cohesive understanding of the concept and its usage.

References

1. Aquinas, T. (2010). Summa Theologica. Part II–I. Questions 90–114. Kiev (in Russ).
2. Aristotle. (2022). Politics. Moscow (in Russ).
3. Weber, M. (2016). Economics and Society: Essays in Understanding Sociology. Vol. 1. Sociology. Moscow (in Russ).
4. Gramsci, A. (1991). Prison notebooks. Vol. 1. Moscow (in Russ).
5. Machiavelli, N. (2001). Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius. The Prince: Works. Kharkov (in Russ.).
6. Engels, F. and Marx, K. (1955). The German Ideology. The Collected Works. Vol. 3. Moscow (in Russ.).
7. Plato. (2015). Republic. Moscow (in Russ.).
8. Rousseau, J.-J. (1998). The social contract. Tractates. Moscow (in Russ.).
9. Thucydides. (1981). History of the Peloponnesian War. Saint Petersburg (in Russ.).
10. Hart G. L.A. (2007). The Concept of Law. Saint Petersburg (in Russ.).
11. Applbaum, A. I. (2004). Legitimacy in a Bastard Kingdom. Center for Public Leadership Working Paper, 4–5, pp. 73–94.
12. Austin, J. (1832). The Province of Jurisprudence Determined. London.
13. Beetham, D. (1991). The Legitimation of Power. London.
14. Bendix, R. & Weber, M. (1962). An Intellectual Portrait. New York.
15. Blackstone, W. (1753). Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books. Philadelphia.
16. Craig, E. R outledge. (1998). Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 8. London and New York.
17. Engels, F. (1893). Engels to Franz Mehring. New York.
18. Fuller, L.L. (1958). Positivism and Fidelity to Law: A Reply to Professor Hart. Harvard Law Review, 71(4), pp. 630–672.
19. Habermas, J. (1979). Communication and the Evolution of Society. Boston.
20. Habermas, J. (1975). Legitimation Crisis. Boston.
21. Kelsen, H. (1949). General Theory of Law and State. Cambridge.
22. Kelsen, H. (1949). The Natural-Law Doctrine Before the Tribunal of Science. Western Political Quarterly, 2(4), pp. 481–513.
23. Parsons, T. (1958). Authority, Legitimation, and Political Action. Cambridge.
24. Raz, J. (1974). Kelsen’s Theory of the Basic Norm. American Journal of Jurisprudence, 19, pp. 94–111.
25. Weber, M. (1978). Economy and Society. Berkeley.
26. Scharpf, F. W. (2007). Reflections on multilevel legitimacy. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) Working Papers, 07(3).
27. Abgaria, E. (Ed.) (2003). The Cambridge Klett Comprehensive German Dictionary. Cambridge.
28. Thomas, C.A. (2013). The Concept of Legitimacy and International Law. LSE Legal Studies Working Paper, 12(2013), pp. 1–32.
29. Thornhill, C. and Ashenden, S. (Eds.) (2010). Legality and Legitimacy: Normative and Sociological Approaches. Baden-Baden.
30. Vinx, L. (2007). Hans Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law: Legality and Legitimacy. Oxford.
31. Zelditch, M.Jr. (2001). Theories of legitimacy. In J. T., Jost and B., Major (Eds.). The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations. Cambridge.