Legitimacy and democracy

What is legitimacy

• From latin word legitimate – declare lawful

• Legitimacy is the belief that authority is exercised rightfully and appropriately

• The concept of legitimacy is closely linked to citizens, confidence and trust in system of rule

• Legitimacy transforms power into authority

• Without legitimacy government can have power but  not real autjority

• Legitimacy can be promoted through democracy

  • Also through effective problem solving

Max weber – three ideal types of authority

Traditional authority

• Source of legitimacy – customs and traditions

• Always done this thta way

• Head of family makes the decisions

• Charles is lokked on as legitimate cause he is the son of elizabeth

Charismatic authority

• Source of legitimacy – the power of an individual

• Based on personality

• Good appeal to the followers

• Authority becocem tied to an individual and not the politics

• Hitles

• Winston churchill

• Organized around charismatic leaders

Legal-rational autjority

• A clearly and legally defined set of rules

• Power of president maybe

• Determined by formal rules

• Authority tied to an office

Traditional authority

• Source of legitimacy – customs and traditions

• Always done this thta way

• Head of family makes the decisions

• Charles is lokked on as legitimate cause he is the son of elizabeth

• 
  

Charismatic authority

• Source of legitimacy – the power of an individual

• Based on personality

• Good appeal to the followers

• Authority becocem tied to an individual and not the politics

• Hitles

• Winston churchill

• Organized around charismatic leaders

Legal-rational autjority

• A clearly and legally defined set of rules

• Power of president maybe

• Determined by formal rules

• Authority tied to an office

What is democracy

• Origins – greek word demokratia – rule by the people

• Demos refers to common people

• Greek democracy was very exclusive

• Normative ideas how states should be ruled

• For a long time democracy was then not ideal

• Monarchy was the preferred regime then

• Changed during the age of revolution

• Main dividing line: democracy vs.autocracy

• Today democracy means the rule of all people

• Power should be legitimised by the will of the people

• American revolution event that established democracy

• Gettyrsber - Government of the people, by the people, for the people

Plato and Aristoteles - democracy

• Plato did not see democracy as the ideal form of government

• They had no clue what politics were really about

• Lacked rationality and followed emotions

• Saw it as government by the poor and the uneducatied agains the rich and educated

• Plato believed that political decisions should be based on experties

• Allowing all people to rule would lead to mob rule and class warfare

• People could not be trusted

• Should be left to experts

• Aristoteles saw it as a dangerous of the corrupt regimes

• Democracy – many rules who only rule for their own good

• Monarchy or aristocracy are preferable

Two dimensions that are needed to fulfill

Contestation – organized by elections. captures the extent to which citizens are free to organize themselves in competing blocs in order to press for their desored policies and outcomes, not clear who will be the winner

Inclusion – who gets to participate in democratic process, who is part of the demos, everyone who is affected should be involved

Polyarchy

political regime with high levels of both contestation and inclusion, ruled by many but not equally, some may have more than other

Democracies - four key features

regimes in which governmental offices are filled by means of contested elections.

1. The chief executive is elected.

• Head of the government

2. The legislature is elected.

• Parliment

• People are reperesented

3. More than one party competes in the elections.

• More than one parties competing

• Represents their political views

4. An alternation in power, under identical electoral rules, has taken place

• Power changes hand in peaceful manner

• Power is handed ower to winning party

• Everyone has to follow peaceful transfer of power

Explaining democracy

• Economic and cultural explanations

• Countries more likely for democracy with good economics

• Democracy follows economic developement

• Most economic explanations can be linked to paradigm called modernization theory

• Modernization theory argues that all sovieties pass thorugh the same historical stages of economic development

• Initially developed by economists but taken up by political scientists

Classic Modernization Theory

• Traditional society ----------- Modern society

• Large agriculture ------------ Small agriculture

• Small industries ------------- Large industries

• Small service sector -------------- Large service sector

• Dictatorship -------------- Democracy

• Classic modernization theory predicts that as countries develop econamically they are

  • More likely to become democratic

  • More likely to remain democratic

• According to this theory should see strong link between economic development and democracy

Cultural modernization theory

• Argues that socioeconomic development does not directlylead to democracy.

• instead, economic development produces certain cultural changes (e.g. the emergence of a civic culture). These cultural changes ultimately produce democratic reform.

• When societies evolve their opinions and llooks change

• The Civic Culture by Almond & Verba (1965). Not well developed yet

Three types of political culture

 1. Parochial

2. Subject

• Aware of government and what they do

3. Participant/civic

• Citizens pay close attention to politics

• Think thye can make a difference

Argument: only a civic culture is compatible with democracy. Change footer text: menu > insert > header en footer text

Politicla culture

• How individuals think about the political system

• Almond and Verba conceptualized civic culture as a shared cluster of attitudes that include things like

  • Political participations seen as civic duty

  • Support for the existing political system

  • Preferance for societal change

  • High interpersonal trust

• Countries with civic culture were more likely to become and stay democratic

Populist challenge -    Two views on the relationship between populism and democracy

Populist is a strong political force

Populism as a threat to liberal democracy

• Poplists say that they represent will of the people

• Weaken other institutions

• Anti-pluralism

• Weakening checks and balances

Populism as a corrective to democracy

• Populist were succesful participants

• Help democrocy become more exclusive

• Broadening political representation

• Strengthening democratic accountability

• Difference between populist actors in governemnt vs. Populist actors in opposition

Is democracy in retreat

• Fareed Zakaria (1997): ‘The Rise of Illiberal Democracy’

• Threat to liberal democracy

• What happens after elections?

•  Elections (even when they are reasonably free and fair) are not sufficient for liberal, constitutional democracy.

• Alexis de Tocqueville already warned of the “the tyranny of the majority.”

•  Example: Democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe

• Over the past years, we have watched politicians say and do things that are unprecedented in the United States – but that we recognize as having been the precursors of democratic crisis in other places

Two ways of democratic demise

Military coups: We often think of transitions from democracy to dictatorships in terms of tanks in the streets (e.g. toppling of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in 2013). But this is very rare.

More common is democratic subversion: elected leaders subvert the very process that brought them to power (e.g. President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela or Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary)

Democratic demise two conditions

• A would-be authoritarian continuously undermines existing democratic norms.

•  The autocratic leader needs to be able to subvert democratic institutions (rather than be constrained by them)

• Constitutions alone often cannot prevent democratic backsliding. (Unwritten) democratic norms need to reinforce constitutions

• Violating the laws makes democratic institutions vulnurable

Democratic gate-keeping as condition of backsliding

 An important protection against would-be authoritarian leaders are political parties/elites who act as democracy’s gatekeepers.

 Party elites must strike a balance between two roles:

• Choose candidates that best represent the party’s voters.

•  Screen out those who pose a threat to democracy or are unfit for office.