Definition & Types of legitimacy

Legitimacy:

In political science, legitimacy is the widespread acceptance of an authority, usually a governing law or a regime. Political legitimacy is considered a rudimentary condition for governing, without which a government will suffer legislative impasse and collapse. In political systems where this is not the case, unpopular regimes survive because they are considered legitimate by a small, influential choice. In Chinese political philosophy, during the historical period of the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC), the political legitimacy of a leader and government was derived from the Mandate of Heaven, and unjust rulers who lost said mandate therefore lost the right to rule the people.

Types of legitimacy:

Legitimacy is "a value whereby something or someone is acknowledged and accepted as right and proper". In political science, legitimacy generally is understood as the popular acceptance and recognition by the public of the authority of a governing regime, whereby authority has political power through consent and mutual understandings, not pressure. German sociologist Max Weber explained the three types of political legitimacy

1. Traditional
2. Charismatic
3. Rational-legal

Traditional legitimacy derives from societal custom and habit that highlight the history of the authority of tradition. Traditionalists understand this form of rule as historically accepted, hence its continuity, because it is the way society has always been. Therefore, the institutions of traditional government usually are historically continuous, as in monarchy and tribalism.

Charismatic legitimacy originates from the ideas and personal magnetism of the leader, a person whose authoritative persona charms and psychologically dominates the people of the society to agreement with the government's regime and rule. A charismatic government usually features feeble political and administrative institutions, because they derive authority from the persona of the leader, and usually disappear without the leader in power. However, if the charismatic leader has a successor, a government derived from charismatic legitimacy might continue.

Rational-legal legitimacy evolves from a system of institutional procedure, wherein government institutions establish and enforce law and order in the public interest. Therefore, it is through public trust that the government will abide the law that confers rational-legal legitimacy (O'Neil, Patrick H., 2010).