The legitimacy of political power and its legality

The capacity of the government in many respects depends 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 on a voluntary basis they give it the right to make decisions requiring mandatory implementation. If the level of legitimacy falls, coercive methods of influence begin to be used.

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

Note that in any society there are representatives who will be dissatisfied with the chosen government and the system of government. Therefore, the legitimacy of political power can never be one hundred percent. A sign of this is the presence of opposition in a democratic society. Therefore, any ruling force must constantly prove to the population that it defends its interests.

Note that many political scientists and philosophers studied the problems of legality and the effectiveness of power. They tried to explain the contradictions between the government and the population by analyzing specific situations. As a result of this, the types of legitimacy were formed by the philosopher M. Weber:

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

2. Charismatic. It is based on faith in a leader, who attributes such qualities as wisdom, holiness and heroism. Religious representatives, as well as revolutionary and totalitarian leaders, possessed similar characteristics.

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

This typology is fundamental to political theory, although many scholars have added several more types to it. So, the political scientist D. Easton even identified an ideological view, which is based on people's confidence in the degree of reliability of those ideological canons that were proclaimed by the authorities. Then he described structural legitimacy based on public confidence in the structure of the regime.

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 lies at the core of a democratic system of government, because here an additional source of legality is the social and economic productivity of the regime, which is manifested at the standard of living of the population.

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

1. Improving legislation and public administration, 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. Charisma of a political leader.

4. Successful implementation of state policy, maintaining order and the proper level of legality.