All governments and their supporters attempt to justify their power by the arguments and rituals of legitimacy. The claim to ultimate power authorized by principles of right, morality, or destiny is what distinguishes the state from other organizations and institutions. The study of legitimate power thus lies at the heart of political science. Rodney Barker examines the accounts that have been given of legitimacy within the principal traditions of political analysis. Drawing on recent historical examples, he argues for a more diversified understanding of the function and the character of political legitimacy. Rulers, he suggests, are often far more concerned about legitimizing their power than those whom they govern. Barker proposes the study of legitimacy as a form of political life not merely derived from other interests or purposes, but as a central characteristic of government.
Political legitimacy; the legitimacy of the autonomous state; the legitimacy of the representative or neutral state; the legitimacy of the partisan state; all subjects are legitimately governed but some are more legitimately governed than others; legitimacy and coercion; states as cultivators of legitimacy; the state as subverter of legitimacy.
