Political legitimacy

Political legitimacy is the justification or recognition of a government’s right to rule and of citizens’ obligation to obey its authority.

Political authority: The recognized right to make binding decisions and enforce them within a political community. Legitimacy explains when political authority is justified rather than merely exercised.
Legitimation: The process through which political authority is presented and accepted as rightful. It describes how governments build or renew claims to legitimate rule.
Political power: The capacity to shape collective decisions, behavior, or access to resources through political means. A government may possess power without having a justified right to exercise it.
Civil disobedience: A public, conscientious breach of law intended to change a law or government policy. It challenges particular commands while often appealing to deeper principles of legitimate rule.
Thomas Hobbes: A seventeenth-century English philosopher whose political theory defended sovereign authority as a remedy for civil conflict. Hobbes grounds political obedience in authorization and the need for security.
Political obligation: A moral or legal duty to obey political institutions or their laws. Legitimacy is often used to explain why citizens owe obedience.
Rule of law: The principle that public power is constrained by general, publicly known laws. Legal constraints can make authority predictable and strengthen its acceptance as rightful.
Coercion: The use or threat of force to constrain another person’s choices. Compliance produced by force does not by itself establish legitimate authority.
Revolution: A rapid, fundamental transformation of a political order, often involving mass mobilization or violence. A legitimacy crisis can help turn opposition into an effort to replace the political order.
John Locke: A seventeenth-century English philosopher who defended natural rights, government by consent, and resistance to tyranny. Locke ties legitimate government to consent and the protection of rights.

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