Researching political legitimacy: concepts, theories, methods and empirical studies - Frontiers
frontiersin.org
Why do people obey governments they distrust? This research collection tears apart the slippery concept of political legitimacy to reveal what actually makes power feel justified.
Political LegitimacySocial Contract TheoryNormative vs. Empirical LegitimacyAuthority and Consent
Theory Briefing
- Frontiers' research topic synthesizes cutting-edge legitimacy studies, bridging normative theory and empirical measurement of public consent.
- Legitimation — the active process of making power seem justified — is shown to be distinct from legitimacy as a static state, reshaping how scholars study authority.
- Cross-national empirical studies reveal that legitimacy perceptions vary sharply by context, challenging universal theories of why citizens accept or reject state power.