Legitimacy between Acceptance and Acceptability A Subjects-First View

Political realists argue that the concept of political legitimacy should be linked to subjects’ beliefs, while still offering normative guidance. In this article, I suggest doing so by referring to the concepts of acceptance and acceptability. I argue that a regime is legitimate if its power is acce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial theory and practice Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 61 - 88
Main Author Cozzaglio, Ilaria
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tallahassee Florida State University 2022
Subjects
Acceptability
Acceptance
Beliefs
Between-subjects design
Coherence
Legitimacy
Politics
Pragmatism
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Summary:Political realists argue that the concept of political legitimacy should be linked to subjects’ beliefs, while still offering normative guidance. In this article, I suggest doing so by referring to the concepts of acceptance and acceptability. I argue that a regime is legitimate if its power is accepted by subjects, provided that such acceptance meets the requirements of acceptability: subjects’ beliefs about the regime’s legitimacy need to successfully satisfy three requirements—coherence, fact-sensitivity, and politics-sensitivity—via entering public debate. I rely on pragmatism to investigate the link between subjects’ beliefs and their experience of facing political authority.
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ISSN:0037-802X
2154-123X
DOI:10.5840/soctheorpract20211210147