Long Term Sources of Legitimacy (DP IB Global Politics: HL): Revision Note

History

• The history of a state’s existence is a long-term source of its legitimacy

  • The longer a state has existed, the more accepted it becomes as a member of the global community

• In IB Global Politics we do not explore historical events, but we should consider how history can impact the contemporary legitimacy of states and governments

• Although this 1920 map of Europe is not identical to a modern map of Europe and borders have shifted, many of the states should be familiar

• Many of the states in the map have legitimacy because they have been around a long time and are very familiar, including

  • Spain

  • Italy

  • Germany

• Even though the governments of those states have undergone dramatic changes since 1929, the states themselves have retained their legitimacy

History of the state government 

• State governments come and go, but some political parties may have greater legitimacy than others based on their history

• Democracies tend to have greater legitimacy, but even within democracies some political parties have varying degrees of legitimacy, partly because of their history

  • Actors can challenge the legitimacy of a government while still accepting the legitimacy of the state itself

  • In democracies, it is common for citizens to oppose governments through protests, elections and political activism without rejecting the authority of the state

Ideology

• 'Ideology' refers to a set of ideas, beliefs, and values that explain how society should be organised and governed

• The legitimacy of government ideology is debatable because it is dependent upon who or what is approving of the ideology

  • Even within democracies the legitimacy of ideologies can change over time

• Most IGOs and NGOs fully support the global norm that democracies have greater legitimacy because citizens have agency and choose the government

  • Liberalism as a theory also argues that democracy has the greatest legitimacy

• Nationalism is on the rise in many democratic states

  • This suggests that more people want a government to prioritise national pride and interests over cooperation and globalisation

• Assessing the legitimacy of ideology in single-party states is difficult because people are not free to express their opinions

National identity

• National identity is the shared sense of belonging to a nation, based on common culture, history, language, traditions and beliefs

  • It is an important component of state and government legitimacy

• This shared sense of identity connects directly to state legitimacy

  • Governments often use this sense of pride in a common identity to bring legitimacy to their own leadership by wearing traditional clothing or attending cultural events