Legitimacy of political power and its legality

The capacity of the government depends largely on the degree of its legitimacy. This indicator is one of the important characteristics of the effective work of political power. In many ways this concept coincides with the authority of the authorities. It reflects the attitude of citizens to the existing order in the country.

The legitimacy of political power is the consent of the people to the system of government when it voluntarily gives it the right to make decisions that require compulsory execution. If the level of legitimacy falls, compulsory methods of influence begin to be used.

There is also such a concept as the legality of power, which many confuse with the rule of law. However, these two concepts are different in structure and work principles. Legal authority is a legal concept that indicates the degree to which the existing system of government is in accordance with the law in force. However, there can be some contradictions between legality and legitimacy. For example, not all adopted laws can be considered fair or the elected authority due to non-fulfillment of the program or any violations can lose confidence in the eyes of people. In this case, the process of delegitimization of power begins to develop.

Let's notice that in any society there are representatives who will be dissatisfied with the elected authority and the system of government. Therefore, the legitimacy of political power can never be absolute. A sign of this is the presence of opposition in a democratic society. Therefore, any ruling power must constantly prove to the population that it defends its interests.

It should be noted that many political scientists and philosophers have studied the problems of legality and effectiveness of power. They tried to explain the emerging contradictions between the government and the population by analyzing specific situations. As a result, the philosopher M. Weber has formed such types of legitimacy:

1. Traditional, based on a once-formed order.

2. Charismatic. It is based on faith in the leader, who is credited with such qualities as wisdom, holiness and heroism. Similar characteristics were enjoyed by religious representatives, as well as revolutionary and totalitarian leaders.

3. Legal. In this case, the legitimacy of political power is based on rational rules and laws. As for a democratic society, this species is the main one in its system.

This typology is the main one in political theory, although many scientists added several more species to it. So, the political scientist D. Easton singled out even an ideological kind, which is based on the people's confidence in the degree of reliability of those ideological canons that were proclaimed by the authorities. Then he also characterized the structural legitimacy, based on the people's confidence in the structure of the regime.

Let us note that in real life the legitimacy of political power rarely exists in one form. All its types can complement each other. The greatest potential for legitimacy underlies the democratic system of government, because here an additional source of legitimacy is the social and economic productivity of the regime, which manifests itself at the level of life of the population.

There are certain prerequisites aimed at maintaining the legitimacy of power in the state:

1. Improvement of legislation and public administration system, which is achieved as a result of the emergence of new requirements.

2. The creation of a political system, whose legitimacy will be based on the traditions of the people, and therefore will be characterized by a greater degree of stability.

3. Charismatic character of the political leader.

4. Successful implementation of the state policy, maintenance of order and due level of legality.