Legitimate power definition. legitimacy of political power. What is the theory of D. Betham

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. The term "legitimacy" is often heard in political debates, news, TV shows.

Many people know that any government strives for it, if only for the sake of an authoritative status in the international arena. The problem is exacerbated during the elections of the highest officials and implementation of social and economic reforms.

In this article, you will learn what legitimacy is and what role it plays.

The foundation of power is legitimacy

This word comes from the Latin legitimus "consistent with the laws, lawful, lawful". Actually, this is its meaning.

"The people are the source of power." Moreover, this is not just a slogan enshrined in constitutions. This hidden definition legitimacy.

If from the authorities, then you can bring something like this general definition legitimate actions:

Every state has power. People treat her differently. Some agree with the actions of top officials, political course, reforms. Others believe that representatives of the ruling elite came to the goal illegally or "dirty" way (for example, by throwing extra ballots into the ballot box during the elections), wrote laws for themselves and are engaged in arbitrariness.

If there are more satisfied citizens, then the actions of the servants of the people are legitimate.

Laws, state programs, deputies and officials are the bricks from which the building of power is built. But without a solid foundation, the structure will collapse sooner or later. No matter how cool the walls, roof or interior decoration. foundation of power is legitimacy.

The process of formation and consolidation of the system is under close attention of citizens.

talking in simple words, legitimacy - it is a recognition of power people.

It has the following features:

closely related to psychology, morality, social justice;
people voluntarily agree to policies and reforms;
execute (do not violate) laws by conviction, not coercion (show)
approve of the way in which the ruling elite is formed, for example, consider the revolution a necessity.

Legitimacy does not necessarily imply the support of power by all citizens (for example, in any state there is an opposition). Majority consent is sufficient..

In the general sense, the word "legitimate" is legal, competent, lawful or socially recognized. That is, the authorities will act legitimately if these very actions of it receive public recognition.

When the power in the state is illegitimate

How to define it? Pretty simple:

Then the ruling elite has three ways maintaining the ability to govern and continue to rule (against the wishes of the people):

Attract legitimacy "by the ears" with the help of ideology, the media, education. The most frequent option.
Strive to improve the quality of people's lives. It happens rarely.
Engage the mechanism of coercion: the police, the military, harsh laws, punitive structures. Dictatorships follow this path.

Often illegitimate systems fall apart.

A striking example of this is. People are finally disappointed in the current government and form a new top with aggressive methods. Something similar is now observed in France, where the government no longer enjoys the support of the people (in fact, it is "at the helm" illegitimately).

Sometimes power becomes legitimate over the years. For example, citizens just getting used to to illegal laws, cruel punishments and social inequality, . They reassure themselves that it could be worse. Therefore, legitimate is not always fair or right.

Is legality and legitimacy the same thing?

The legitimacy and legality of state power are concepts that people often confuse, considering them almost synonymous. They both characterize political regime but from different angles.

Legality is compliance with the current rules of law.

But after all, laws can be unfair, written for the interests of only one social stratum (for example, deputies or oligarchs). Or a person comes to a high position, albeit legally, but fraudulently: he misleads voters, distributes unrealistic promises.

Legitimacy means the correspondence of power to the concepts justice, morality, legality of a particular society.

Well, when it is combined with legality. But this is not always the case. For example, revolutionary groups do things that are not in accordance with the laws.

Types of legitimate government

They were first identified and described by the German sociologist Max Weber. IN pure form none of the types of legitimacy occurs. These are just ideal models.

conclusions

Can't say for sure that legitimacy is good or bad. After all, its roots lie deep in the human psyche, and the latter is imperfect.

Power can win the hearts of people with sweet promises, unreasonable wage and pension increases, tax cuts, ideologies like “we are good, and strangers are bad.” But whether the state will benefit from this in the long run is a big question.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

15. The power of the manager. Types of power

THE POWER OF THE MANAGER

Managers must influence in a way that is easy to predict and that leads not just to the acceptance of a given idea, but to action - the actual work required to achieve the goals of the organization. In order to make his leadership and influence effective, the leader must develop and apply power. Most people associate power with violence, force and aggression. This view of power is understandable. Indeed, power is based on brute force, even in highly developed societies that believe that violence has a place only in sports or on television. But power is by no means an obligatory component of power.

Power- the ability to exert a certain influence on people's behavior with the help of the right to dispose of something, authority, submission to one's will. In turn, influence is the behavior of one person, which makes a change in the way of thinking and actions of another person.

Power and influence are the means at the disposal of the manager to deal with a variety of business situations. Since the manager has power over subordinates, they are dependent on him for the amount of work performed, empowerment, promotion, salary increases, satisfaction of social needs. However, the subordinate also has power over the leader. This can be manifested in the ability of subordinates to perform tasks efficiently and on time; influencing other people on whom the manager himself depends; transfer the necessary information to the manager. Therefore, the manager must maintain a reasonable balance of power in the team.

balance of power- this is a situation in management, when the level of influence of a leader vested with power on a subordinate is equal to the degree of dependence of this subordinate on the leader. An effective manager will not abuse power, act in a rude, command form. A manager can exercise power through various means: encouragement, imposition of penalties, the authority of his own professional knowledge, his personal merits. In addition, an effective means is to empower subordinates with limited and controlled by the manager powers.

Decentralization of personal power is achieved in three ways:

1) formally documented delegation of authority

2) the presence of long-term, medium-term and current planning systems

3) a well-functioning mechanism for information exchange.

Timely redistribution and organizational formalization of power is necessary for the manager to increase stability in the work of the enterprise. This is due to the fact that in the activities of any company there inevitably comes a moment when it is necessary to redistribute power functions within it. If you ignore such a need, there may be a threat to the development and even the existence of the company.

Types of power

Power based on coercion. The manager can exercise power through coercion, which gives him the opportunity to humiliate, intimidate people. This type of power is based on influencing a person with the help of fear: the threat of losing a place, being demoted, etc. To use fear as a tool of influence, it is necessary to have an effective control system. However, in this case, the desire of a person to deliberately violate, deceive his leader increases.

As a result of exposure to fear, people experience alienation, stiffness, anger. Therefore, where power is based on coercion, as a rule, labor productivity and product quality are lower. Employees in this case usually experience dissatisfaction with their work. Power based on coercion can be effective where labor and production discipline is violated.

Power Based on Reward. This is one of the most effective ways to influence other people.

The main thing for the manager is to correctly determine the amount of remuneration. Otherwise, with insufficient remuneration, the degree of motivation will be insignificant. Even worse is the other extreme, when the amount of remuneration does not correspond to the modest achievements of the employee. In addition, when choosing the option of power based on remuneration, the manager can operate under objective constraints. The reasons for such restrictions may be, for example, the insignificant financial capabilities of the enterprise. In this regard, the manager must be able to use not only material, but also psychological methods of motivation.

Power based on authority and knowledge. In this type of power, the influence on the employee is carried out due to the fact that he takes on faith the professionalism of the manager, his experience and knowledge. That is why this version of power involves influence through the so-called reasonable faith. The influence of faith in the authority and knowledge of a specialist is far from unambiguous. It is not uncommon for a new leader, not having sufficient experience in a particular area of activity, to take on faith the recommendations of his more experienced subordinates. However, if this period is prolonged, the strength of his power in relation to employees may weaken, his authority may decrease.

At the same time, the high professionalism of a manager in a particular area of activity, for example, in the technical field, does not always indicate the effectiveness of his work as a leader. So, in the German concern Schleman-Simag, the chief designer used to be the one who designed the best and had a large number of patents. Now the chief designer is a specialist who knows how to manage better, who can achieve the maximum effect from the work of his subordinates.

The best option here is a situation where the manager is the undisputed leader for his subordinates, both professionally and organizationally.

Authority Based on Example. At the heart of this type of power is a person's need for belonging, involvement, identification with a certain charismatic personality.

Charisma(from the Greek. Charisma - mercy, divine gift) means giftedness, exclusivity. A manager endowed with charismatic traits has power based primarily on high personal qualities and outstanding abilities. Such qualities can be professionalism, solid appearance, the ability to behave with dignity in society, independence of judgment, a meaningful presentation of one's thoughts. They say about such people that they radiate some kind of positive energy that has a beneficial effect on others. The power of example, which is used by a charismatic leader, is an effective way to manage people. A charismatic leader always has an idea of how the work should be done. Such a manager is able to formulate his vision of the future and present it in such a way that it is understandable to others. This, in turn, acts on subordinates as a strong motivating factor. Employees in this case strive to be like the manager, respect or, as is sometimes said, "idolize" him. It has been established that subordinates of managers with charisma achieved better results in their work than those who worked under the supervision of managers who did not have such qualities. It has been proven that the charismatic type of leader is especially important in the case when the company is going through a crisis.

Power Based on Legitimate Rights. The manager has the legal authority vested in him by the enterprise or organization in which he works. This is the most famous version of power. The authorities have always sought to strengthen their power, which is confirmed by the rich historical experience of the development of mankind. Therefore, influence through traditions allows employees to realize their needs for belonging to a social group and security, since it is the manager who takes on the responsibility of planning work, making decisions, and being responsible for organizing its implementation. However, in this case, the employee can shift the responsibility for his own omissions in the work to the manager. Therefore, influence through tradition has a very significant feature. It lies in the fact that the employee is more likely to obey the position, and not the specific personality of the leader. Hence the direct path to obedience to management, even if the manager is not authoritative enough in the eyes of subordinates.

Thus, following the traditions that have developed in the team, on the one hand, allows the production process to be carried out on the basis of an established procedure, established business ties, and on the other hand, influence through traditions creates certain difficulties in implementing innovations, improving the production process, since people do not want to change the usual course of events.

In Russia, with the beginning of market reforms, there has been a significant transformation in the use of legitimate power. At present, in various organizational structures of our country, there is increasingly a transition to the restoration of the best Russian traditions of high professionalism, honesty, reliability in business relations.

TICKET #16.

The power of the manager and how to expand it

Leadership power can take many forms. So, according to the classification of French and Raven, it has five main forms:

Power based on coercion. The performer believes that the influencer has the ability to punish in a way that will interfere with the satisfaction of some urgent need, or even cause some other trouble.

Power based on reward. The performer believes that the influencer has the ability to satisfy a pressing need or give pleasure.

Expert power. The performer believes that the influencer has the special knowledge to satisfy the need.

Reference power (power of example). The characteristics or properties of the influencer are so attractive to the performer that he wants to be the same as the influencer.

The performer believes that the influencer has the right to give orders and that it is his duty to obey them.. These power bases are a tool by which a manager can get subordinates to get the job done, but they are also means that can be used by an authoritative opinion leader to thwart organizational goals.

An effective manager will not abuse power, act in a rude, command form.

The authority of the manager can be exercised by various means: encouragement of subordinates; imposition of penalties on them; the authority of their own professional knowledge; their personal merits. In addition, an effective medium

The property is the empowerment of subordinates with limited and controlled by the manager powers.

Trends in the economy: strengthening and expanding power in the organization by transferring authority to subordinates (delegation of authority) and shifting the center of gravity from formal power to power based on competence, knowledge.

TICKET #17

The balance of power between the manager and the team. Permissible degree of violation of instructions. Power ethics and power disease.

The manager must maintain a reasonable balance of power in the team. The balance of power is a situation in management when the level of influence of a leader vested with power on a subordinate is equal to the degree of dependence of this subordinate on the leader.

Ways of influence:

Influence through fear and power based on coercion;

Influence through positive reinforcement and reward-based power;

Influence through reasonable faith and expert power;

Influence by example and reference power based on personal example;

Influence through tradition and legal authority and tradition.

Power Ethics:

At the epicenter of management ethics: goals and means to achieve them; as well as profit, people (morality), goods, pride (reputation, prestige).

Management ethics is a business ethics based on honesty, openness, loyalty to the given word, the ability to operate effectively in the market in accordance with applicable law. The concept of business ethics is inextricably intertwined with the concepts of "business ethics", "entrepreneurial ethics", "corporate culture", "company reputation".

When analyzing the corporate culture of an organization (close to the concept of business ethics), three points should be highlighted:

basic assumptions held by the members of the organization and which set guidelines for the behavior of its members;

values that help make decisions in a particular situation;

the symbolism through which values are conveyed by members of the organization.

The meaning of corporate culture is that the goals of the company and the goals of the person working in it coincide.

TICKET #18

Managerial decisions. The structure of the solution and its components. Formal signs of the solution.

the structure of the managerial decision-making process, which includes three aspects: 1) a formal structure consisting of goals, rules, criteria, methods, alternatives, information, hypotheses; 2) a level structure consisting of five levels (autocratic, autonomous, local collegiate, integrative collegial and meta collegial); 3) an operational structure consisting of a system of coordinated actions for the development, adoption, implementation of decisions and control over their execution.

All management decisions can be divided into two types:

traditional solutions that have repeatedly taken place before; in this case, one of the already available alternatives should be selected;

non-traditional, non-standard management decisions; their development is associated with the search for new alternatives.

The most important feature of managerial decisions is its focus on the system of organizing collective labor, in contrast to decisions made by a person in relation to himself or individual material elements of labor. All the variety of managerial decisions made in the social system can be considered aimed at the implementation of: strategic planning; management of management activities; human resource management; management of production and service activities; formation of the organization's management system; management consulting; communications with the external environment.

Consider the main features of a management decision

1. The most important feature of managerial decisions is its focus on the system of organization of collective labor, in contrast to decisions made by a person in relation to himself or individual material elements of labor. The whole variety of managerial decisions made in the social system can be considered aimed at the implementation of:

Strategic planning;

management activities;

Human resource management;

Production and service management;

Formation of the organization's management system;

Management consulting;

Communication with the external environment.

The system of criteria and principles for decision-making is based on knowledge of the objective laws of functioning and development of controlled systems and taking into account all the conditions and features of a particular situation in which a decision is made. Management decision (SD) is the creative result of the subject of management, which determines, on the basis of knowledge of the objective laws of the functioning of the system and the analysis of information reflecting its state, the program and the nature of the team's activities to resolve the urgent problem. A characteristic feature of management problems in general is the problem of preparing and making management decisions (U R) in particular, is their interdisciplinary nature, the union of different areas of science in their subject.

TICKET #19

Technology for making managerial decisions. Rules for delegation of authority.

The technology of making managerial decisions has 5 stages: The first stage of making a managerial decision - studying the problem - consists of several stages: 1. Identification of a managerial problem or goal. 2. Preliminary statement of the problem (goal). If the problem (goal) is set incorrectly, then all further efforts and costs will be useless. Incorrect formulation of the problem is most often associated with low qualifications of managerial personnel, rigid professional attitudes, as well as untimely or “imposed from above” problems and solutions.

3. Delegation of powers. The leader cannot deal with all the problems himself, therefore it is necessary to delegate some powers to competent specialists. They can collect information to make a decision, to consider the problem.

4. Collection of necessary information and its analysis. It is important to take into account not only "one's own" information, but also "foreign" information (opponents, competitors, etc.).

5. The construction of a conceptual model of a problem situation involves the presentation of an understanding of the problem, in general, a system of views on this problem.

6. Substantiation and construction of a formalized model of a specific situation. Such a model can be represented as a network diagram or a goal tree (decision tree).

Management technology has the following mechanism:

1. General decision-making guidance. 2. Rules for making decisions. 3. Plans in decision making. 4. Making bilateral decisions by leaders of the same level based on individual interaction. 5. Target groups and their role in decision-making (group interaction at equal levels). 6. Matrix type of interaction. The first three components provide a vertical relationship between management levels, the last three provide a horizontal connection in the coordination of decisions.

A firm can use both a simple and a complex mechanism of interaction in management, which depends on the complexity of the decisions made and the possibilities for their implementation.

Delegation of authority is a business methodology in which employees are given authority and responsibility for decisions at the level at which they operate. It assumes that the manager is not an authoritarian leader who makes decisions on his own, but transfers some of his authority to subordinates, while simultaneously training them. Delegation is based on the understanding that problems are best solved by the people working on the problem, not by higher management.

There are two main concepts of delegation of authority:

1) classical - transfer of powers from top to bottom. Powers are considered delegated when they are transferred by the head to the subordinate;

2) modern - acceptance of powers. Authority is considered delegated when it is accepted by a subordinate. Based on this concept, the subordinate has the right to reject the demands of the boss.

The process of delegation of authority includes the following steps:

assigning individual specific tasks to employees;

granting appropriate authority and resources to subordinates;

the formulation of the obligations of subordinates to fulfill the tasks assigned to them.

Delegation is an effective managerial technique, but it must be carried out subject to certain principles:

Clearly define the level of performance and required actions.

Determine when the results will be reported.

Inform the collective to which the delegated authority extends.

Provide the subordinate with the necessary information.

Evaluate timing, not methods to achieve results.

Delegate consistently, rather than delegating only uninteresting or frustrating tasks.

Provide subordinates with the opportunity to choose delegated tasks.

Allocatefour options for the degree of delegation of authority:

Full delegation: the subordinate performs the work and is responsible for it to more high level management, the immediate supervisor is exempted from participation in the work.

Limited delegation: a subordinate performs the assigned work, but bears responsibility for its results together with his immediate supervisor.

Zero delegation: a subordinate performs the assigned work, but his manager is responsible for its results.

Delegation is the opposite: the subordinate, having received the task, shifts its execution to his leader.

In the political sphere of society, one of the cornerstone concepts is “power”. If you have not figured out the legitimacy of power, then passing the exam, not to mention the Olympiads, will not work at all. However, this is not such an easy concept to understand. And now we will put things in order in your head, which, probably, is already swollen with bricks of useless manuals.

concept

The concept of legitimacy of power goes back to the term interaction. After all, it is precisely in the course of the interaction of some groups of people with others, or in the course of the interaction of a political leader and a group, that one may become subordinate to another.

Legitimacy - the conformity of political power to the values of society, when society supports this political power.

Roughly speaking, this is the support of the government by the people. Any coercion needs legitimacy, because without it no one will obey it. Have there been cases in history when the current government was legal, but not legitimate? Yes, there were many such cases.

For example, the regime of Tsar Nicholas II, whom some politicians tend to romanticize and glorify. This king initially said that all hopes for any changes were groundless, and he would adhere to the line that was chosen by his father, Alexander the Third.

Actually, as a result of such a position, the country was brought by this Nicholas II to (!) Three revolutions (the First Russian 1905-1907, and the October 1917). Why were there revolutions? Because the people have already stopped supporting the king. His power became not legitimate, not supported by the people.

In order to assimilate this concept for you, give three more examples when the power has already ceased to be legitimate.

To complete the picture, it is also necessary to give examples of the legitimacy of power when it enjoyed the support of the people. These examples include states in which over the past hundred or two hundred years there have been no serious social and political upheavals within the country. Probably Switzerland or Belgium. Also the Soviet Union in the post-war years, when it reached one of the peaks of its existence. Although, of course, you can argue, as you can find facts both for and against.

Crisis of legitimacy

Such a crisis occurs when legitimacy loses its properties. These include:

Separation of the values of the political elite and the majority of society when this difference becomes very significant and very palpable. For example, today a part of the political elite of Russia has directed its forces only to its own enrichment, as a result of which the level of corruption in the country is simply wild. That is, the private interests of this part of the elite are sometimes placed by the state above the interests of society. This is why there is distrust in the government, and as a result, the fall of its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Gap between rich and poor is growing that is, increasing social inequality. I think you can give examples yourself.

The rights and freedoms of citizens are limited. In Russia, this happens at every turn. It is important to understand here that this is also true for some foreign countries. For example, in London there are a huge number of surveillance cameras - about 2 million. By itself, this sign says nothing, but in a system with others it says a lot. In particular, in our country, along with the above signs, in last years there is a significant restriction of rights and freedoms. It is enough to look at the refusals to hold public events by various public organizations, a ban on rallies, the inability of state power to create conditions for a safe life in the country. I think you yourself know and understand such moments.

The inability of the authorities to regulate the economy. What is expressed primarily in the fall of the real standard of living of citizens. In Russia, this sign is especially striking - the cost of living is about 10 thousand rubles, and the minimum wage (minimum wage) is 7500 rubles. for September 2017.

Types of legitimacy

So power should be based on the people, society, and the degree of legitimacy is an indicator of society's trust in power. However, what can the authorities rely on to inspire this trust. The famous German politician and scientist Max Weber singled out only four types of legitimacy, or, as he called them, domination.

The first type is legality, or legitimacy. Legitimacy is not the power itself, but the fact that it itself obeys the law. And through this, people are forced to obey the law. In this case, the law is general rule, which tells everyone what can be done and what is not.
The second type is tradition, when power is based on tradition. It is not by us, as they say, it is established, it is not for us to change. This type of legitimacy or dominance was characteristic of most kings. tsarist Russia. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between healthy conservatism and this type of legitimacy. If everything is fine in the country, then yes, something can not be changed. This is healthy conservatism. In tsarist Russia, there was a protective conservatism that protected the existing political system with all its shortcomings.
The third type is charismatic domination, when the authorities are trusted because of some special leader who knows how to make the impression he needs on people.

In this article, we did not make out much, and it is impossible to cover everything in such a small article. But in our training courses, we analyze this and other topics completely, so there are no questions left. And we also work on this topic on special assignments. Come to our training courses, and you will definitely pass the Unified State Examination in society with really high scores.

Legitimacy of political power

(lat. Legitimus - legal) - recognition by the people and political forces of the legitimacy, legitimacy of political power, its tools, mechanisms of activity, as well as the methods of its election. Legitimacy is not a legal process, therefore, from a political science point of view, it does not have legal functions. It fixes the fact of recognition by the people, and therefore, is empowered to prescribe norms of behavior for people. Legitimate power is therefore mutually trusting. The people trust the government to carry out certain functions, and the government undertakes to fulfill them using a variety of mechanisms and methods.

Most effective method the legitimacy of political power is the involvement of citizens in the management of society and the state, control over the activities of officials. At the same time, the level of legitimacy increases. Another trend shows that the lower the level of legitimacy, the stronger the coercion, and power, based not only on force, is “naked power” (B. Russell).

The state of full legitimacy is a very difficult process to achieve and maintain. Only in a society with well-established norms of behavior, a developed culture of power and the culture of the people, a high level of socio-economic and political development, can we seriously talk about the legitimacy of political power, its individual bodies.

Since the time of M. Weber, three models of legitimacy have been distinguished. Traditional legitimacy is based on customs, strength and loyalty to the traditions that have developed in a particular society. Charismatic legitimacy is characterized by personal loyalty to the leader, the leader due to his extraordinary qualities. Rational legitimacy is based on the rationality principle by which political power is established.

There are three levels of legitimacy of power: ideological, structural and personalistic. The ideological level is based on the correspondence of power to a certain ideology. Structural level characterizes stability political system society, in which the mechanisms for the formation of its institutions have been worked out. Personalist legitimacy is the approval of a particular ruling person by the population.

The decisive lever of legitimacy, capable power, its strength and authority is law, legal culture. If there is no legality as an independent mechanism and regulator of public and private life, then this vacuum is filled by the authorities and it acquires the function of “legal” activity, i.e. becomes an institution of “right of power”. The “right of power” preserves the alienation of the authorities and the people, the illegitimacy of relations between them and creates a field of impunity, illegal actions of the authorities, gives rise to legal nihilism among citizens. In the situation of "the right of power" it is impossible to achieve a conscious motivation for the activities of people, since they are not free, crumpled " right power”, which is absolutely and not change, improvement, etc. General lawlessness can lead to the process of desocialization of society and the state.

In society and the state, the rule of law, based on freedom, culture and the interests of the people, the individual, should prevail.

Shpak V.Yu.

Political science. Dictionary. - M: RSU. V.N. Konovalov. 2010 .

Political science. Dictionary. - RGU. V.N. Konovalov. 2010 .

See what "Legitimacy of political power" is in other dictionaries:

This article lacks links to sources of information. Information must be verifiable, otherwise it may be questioned and removed. You can ... Wikipedia

LEGITIMACY- (lat. legitimus legal, legitimate) the degree of compliance of political power with the value representation of individuals, social groups, society; the conviction of the population in the need to obey the authorities. The author of the term, the German scientist M. Weber, ... ... Political Dictionary-Reference

LEGITIMACY- (Latin legitimus agreeing with the laws, legal, lawful) a certain historically established, socially significant order of the origin and functioning of power, which makes it possible to achieve agreement in power structures and in them ... ... Political Science: Dictionary-Reference

- (lat. kgitt mus legal) an obligatory sign of the legitimate authority of any civilized state, denoting its recognition both within the country and in the international arena. L. as a concept develops during the period of the English and French bourgeois ... Law Encyclopedia

LEGITIMACY- (LEGITIMACY) contemporary problem legitimacy is a problem of political representation and consensus. The problem of political legitimacy arises with the disappearance of the direct political relations inherent in small societies; currently… … sociological dictionary

legitimacy- a legal term used in political science (see) to characterize a social order that has prestige, by virtue of which it dictates mandatory requirements and sets patterns of behavior. L. is not so much a property of itself ... ... Terminological dictionary of a librarian on socio-economic topics

LEGITIMACY legitimacy of the regime, politicians and leaders, reflecting the qualities that stem not from formal laws and decrees, but from social harmony and their acceptance as legitimate, that is, corresponding to the value norms with ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

- (legitimacy) Consists in the fact that the procedure applied by a particular system of government for creating and enforcing laws is acceptable to its citizens. The term is taken from Weberian sociology. As Weber emphasized, ... ... Political science. Dictionary.

Power and body of power- social force, unity of will and means of subordinating some social subjects to others. V. is a necessary mechanism for management and social regulation. Implementation in. presupposes its legitimacy - the justification and recognition of its powers ... ... Projective Philosophical Dictionary

RULE OF STATE POWER- Unlimited state power by nothing but the Constitution, natural law and laws. V.g.v. means that there is no other, competing power on the territory of the state, that no other power stands and cannot stand above it. So… … encyclopedic Dictionary « Constitutional law Russia"

Books

Why did the "party of crooks and thieves" dislike me, Gudkov Gennady Vladimirovich. "Gennady Gudkov involuntarily became the most scandalous deputy in the recent history of Russia. He ended up in the State Duma in 2001, having done hard way from the leader of the People's Party and parliamentarian, ...
For which the `party of crooks and thieves` disliked me, Gudkov Gennady Vladimirovich. Gennady Gudkov involuntarily became the most scandalous deputy in the recent history of Russia. He ended up in the State Duma in 2001, having made a difficult path from the leader of the People's Party and parliamentarian, ...

Legitimacy - political property of a public authority, meaning the recognition by the majority of citizens of the correctness and legality of its formation and functioning. Any power based on popular consensus is legitimate.

concept "legitimacy" means recognition by the community of an indisputable basis for officials (rulers) to exercise power functions. It is opposed to the illegal seizure of power, its usurpation. Legitimacy implies trust in the authorities and the support of the rulers, i.e. loyalty, on the part of the majority of the members of the community, because in any society there are always people who are in opposition to the rulers.

The main thing in the concept of "legitimacy" is the nature ("tonality") of the attitude to power on the part of the population (people) subject to it. If the population (people) accepts and positively evaluates the government, recognizes its right to govern, and agrees to obey it, then such power is legitimate. If this is not the case, and the people do not “love” the authorities and do not trust the authorities, although they obey it for the time being within the instinct of self-preservation (primarily because of the fear of mass repressions), then such authority appears as illegitimate.

Assimilation of the question of the legitimacy of state power requires knowledge of the content and sources of not only the three classical types of legitimacy - traditional, charismatic and rational-legal (democratic) - but also such types of legitimacy as ideological, technocratic, etc. It is also necessary to answer the question of how the legitimacy of power and its effectiveness (effectiveness) correlate with each other.

Technocratic legitimacy

Along with the traditional types of legitimacy of power (traditional, charismatic and rational-legal), there is also such a type as technocratic legitimacy.

For the simple reason that politics deals with the interests and destinies of millions of people, and the cost of mistakes in this area often takes the form of tragedies for entire nations, the question of the effectiveness of politics and politicians is particularly acute. It is with this question that technocratic legitimacy is connected, the core of which is the requirement for the authorities to be competent, to be professional. It should be borne in mind that for those who exercise power or hope to achieve it, politics takes on the character of a craft, a specialized occupation, which necessarily implies the presence of special knowledge and experience. If this is not the case, then politics turns into politicking and loses its effectiveness. Very figuratively, the essence of technocratic legitimacy is expressed by Russian folk proverbs: “Take hold of the tug, do not say that you are not hefty”, “Do not know the ford, do not stick your head into the water.”

The formula that reflects the relationship (interdependence) between the legitimacy and effectiveness of power is the rule: the degree of legitimacy of power is most often directly proportional to its effectiveness, i.e. the more efficiency, the more legitimacy. And vice versa. If this efficiency, as they say, “the cat cried”, then the initially legitimate government, which does not cope with the tasks assigned to it, eventually loses the trust of citizens and turns into illegitimate in their eyes.

If we evaluate the power in post-socialist Russia through this prism, then it clearly lacks professionalism. It is known that Germany and Japan, defeated and thoroughly destroyed in the Second World War, took some 15-20 years to perform an “economic miracle” and be reborn as a “phoenix bird from the ashes”. For the same period of time (if we date the start of market reforms to August 1991), we have not even fully restored what (through thoughtlessness or malicious intent) we thoroughly destroyed.

It is no coincidence that on October 26, 2006 - the day after the communication of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin on the air with the people, during which he had to "take the rap" for all the "sins" of the executive in power - the then chairman of the federal government M. Fradkov gave the members of his cabinet a disappointing diagnosis: "collective irresponsibility" associated with "organizational weakness and insufficient knowledge of the subject." That is, what you manage and what you manage.

Distinguish three "ideal types" legitimacy:

§ traditional based on a set of customs, the force of which has been recognized since time immemorial, and on the habit rooted in a person to adhere to such customs;
§ charismatic, which is entirely characterized by the personal devotion of people who are subject to the cause of a person and their trust only in his person as a leader-leader;
§ rational, arising from the correspondence of power to a rational principle, with the help of which the legal order of the current political system is established.

In relation to this latter type, the concept of "democratic legitimacy" is used as a synonym.

In addition to these three "ideal types", there are other types of legitimacy, namely:

§ technocratic, which can be expressed by a Russian proverb: “Take hold of the tug, don’t say that it’s not a dozen”, i.e. power must be professional;
§ ontological(ontology - the doctrine of being), which contains the correspondence of power to the universal principles of human and social existence.

Structural legitimacy

Most an important factor recognition of the validity of the board favors the formation of authorities on the basis of legality. This structural legitimacy(first view). It is called so because it determines the structure of the political system. This legitimacy can take two forms. First, this traditional legitimacy, which implies public recognition of rulers who have received power in accordance with the traditions and customs of a given community: elders, a leader (the most authoritative leader), a monarch, etc. Secondly, it is more common in democratic communities legal legitimacy, i.e., public recognition of the transfer of power in accordance with established laws on the election of authorities.

However, the acquisition by rulers of powers on a legal basis does not yet guarantee them the preservation of trust and support, i.e., legitimacy. abuse of power, violation of laws and citizens' ideas about justice, the inefficiency of government bodies in managing society can cause a political crisis, undermine confidence, i.e., loss of legitimacy. In established democracies, crises of legitimacy are resolved in a civilized manner. For this, procedures are provided for the removal from power of a ruler who has lost authority. For example, an increase in extra-parliamentary forms of political activity (rallies, protest marches, etc.) can lead to the voluntary resignation of political leaders, early elections, a referendum, etc.

Charismatic legitimacy

Charismatic legitimacy is based on the belief in the special talent of a leader who claims access to political power, all charisma - a divine gift, grace. The trust of citizens in this case has an emotional character and is based on personal sympathy for the leader. At the same time, the importance of legal norms is belittled on both sides. The charismatic way of legitimizing rulers is often used during periods of revolution, when new authorities cannot rely on law or tradition.

These types of legitimacy are ideal models. In political practice, they are intertwined and complement each other. Currently, new types of legitimacy are emerging. The rise of nationalism led to the emergence of the so-called ethnic legitimacy-- the formation of power structures on a national basis. This variety can be attributed to the kind of legal legitimacy, when the qualification of nationality is explicitly or implicitly used in elections.

Degree of legitimacy, i.e., trust in rulers, is difficult to quantify. However, there are certain indicators that can be used for this purpose. Among them are: the level of coercion necessary for the performance of managerial functions by the rulers; the nature of attempts to replace representatives of authorities, manifestations of civil disobedience (riots, strikes, etc.); election results; survey results; and etc.