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Philosophy vocabulary · Political Philosophy

Legitimacy

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/lɪˈdʒɪtɪməsi/nounCommon term

In philosophy, legitimacy means: The quality of political power being rightful, so that those who hold it have a genuine right to rule and people have reasons to obey.

In Turkish: meşruiyet, meşruluk

How it is used

Political philosophers ask what makes authority legitimate: consent, fair procedures, good outcomes or tradition. Max Weber distinguished traditional, charismatic and legal-rational legitimacy. Typical verbs: gain, lose, confer or undermine legitimacy.

Example sentences

  1. Locke grounds the legitimacy of government in the consent of the governed.

  2. Does a state lose its legitimacy if it fails to protect basic rights?

Common collocations

  • political legitimacy
  • democratic legitimacy
  • undermine legitimacy
  • source of legitimacy
  • social contractThe idea that political authority or moral rules are justified because rational people would agree, or have agreed, to accept them for mutual benefit.
  • general willRousseau's idea of the shared will of the people as a whole, aimed at the common good, as opposed to the sum of private interests.
  • natural rightsRights that people are thought to have simply by being human, before and independently of any law or government.
  • justiceThe fair and proper treatment of people, especially in how a society distributes rights, duties, goods and punishments.

More terms: Political Philosophy

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