CONSTITUTIONS AND PROBLEMS OF LEGITIMACY

A Constitution is the foundation of a political community. It defines a political

community and its organizing principles and establishes institutions, relationships
and procedures as well as values and purposes for its governance in general terms.
A Constitution is not a phenomenon of modern times in Pacific Asia.
In political science, legitimacy is the popular acceptance of an authority, usually a
governing law or a regime. Whereas "authority" denotes a specific position in an
established government, the term "legitimacy" denotes a system of government
wherein "government" denotes "sphere of influence". Political legitimacy is
considered a basic condition for governing, without which a government will suffer
legislative deadlock(s) and collapse.
4 Key

Elements of Legitimacy (According to Alagappa):

Shared norms and values
Conformity with established rules for acquiring power
Proper and effective use of power
Consent of the governed.

Dato Dr Muthiah is a Senior Researcher in Comparative and International Politics.

His research includes political legitimacy of governments, civil society and political
change, political role of the military, democratic change, role of force in domestic
and international politics, conceptualization of security, Asian practice of security,
security order in Asia, nuclear weapons and security, and international governance.

POPULAR CLAIMS OF LEGITIMACY

GOVERNMENT POWER IN PACIFIC ASIA

FOR

STATE

AUTHORITY

AND

MANDATE OF HEAVEN the state exercises power on behalf of the higher

supernatural force.
The "Mandate of Heaven" is an ancient Chinese philosophical concept, which
originated during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE). The Mandate determines
whether an emperor of China is sufficiently virtuous to rule; if he does not fulfill his
obligations as emperor, then he loses the Mandate and thus the right to be emperor.
There are four principles to the Mandate:
1) Heaven grants the emperor the right to rule,
2) Since there is only one Heaven, there can only be one emperor at any given time,
3) The emperor's virtue determines his right to rule, and,
4) No one dynasty has a permanent right to rule.

Signs that a particular ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven included peasant
uprisings, invasions by foreign troops, drought, famine, floods and earthquakes. Of
course, drought or floods often led to famine, which in turn caused peasant
uprisings, so these factors were often interrelated.
Although the Mandate of Heaven sounds superficially similar to the European
concept of the "Divine Right of Kings," in fact it operated quite differently. In the
European model, God granted a particular family the right to rule a country for all
time, regardless of the rulers' behavior. The Divine Right was an assertion that God
essentially forbade rebellions - it was a sin to oppose the king.
In contrast, the Mandate of Heaven justified rebellion against an unjust, tyrannical,
or incompetent ruler. If a rebellion was successful in overthrowing the emperor, then
it was a sign that he had lost the Mandate of Heaven and the rebel leader had
gained it. In addition, unlike the hereditary Divine Right of Kings, the Mandate of
Heaven did not depend upon royal or even noble birth. Any successful rebel leader
could become emperor with Heaven's approval, even if he was born a peasant.
The Mandate of Heaven in Action:
The Zhou Dynasty used the idea of the Mandate of Heaven to justify the overthrow
of the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE). Zhou leaders claimed that the Shang
emperors had become corrupt and unfit, so Heaven demanded their removal.
When Zhou authority crumbled in turn, there was no strong opposition leader to
seize control, so China descended into the Warring States Period (c. 475-221 BCE). It
was reunified and expanded by Qin Shihuangdi, beginning in 221, but his
descendants quickly lost the Mandate. The Qin Dynasty ended in 206 BCE, brought
down by popular uprisings led by the peasant rebel leader Liu Bang, who founded
theHan Dynasty.
This cycle continued through the history of China, as in 1644 when the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644) lost the Mandate and was overthrown by Li Zicheng's rebel
forces. A shepherd by trade, Li Zicheng ruled for just two years before he was in
turn ousted by the Manchus, who founded the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China's
final imperial dynasty.
Effects of the Mandate of Heaven Idea
The concept of the Mandate of Heaven had several important effects on China and
on other countries such as Korea and Annam (northern Vietnam) that were within
the sphere of China's cultural influence. Fear of losing the Mandate prompted rulers
to act responsibly in carrying out their duties towards their subjects.
The Mandate also allowed for incredible social mobility for a handful of peasant
rebellion leaders who became emperors. Finally, it gave the people a reasonable

explanation and a scapegoat for otherwise inexplicable events, such as droughts,

floods, famines, earthquakes and disease epidemics. This last effect may have been
the most important of all.

PATERNALISTIC STATE Government exercises power because it provides public

good
Under this conceptual framework, the government takes on state responsibilities for
the family. It holds undisputable authority, as, like a father, the government
naturally knows and works for the needs of the family members.
A paternalistic state assumes full responsibility for making decisions for people, and
therefore an exclusive legitimate authority.

MILITARY AS GURDIAN OF THE STATE Military exercises state power because it

safeguards the security and protects the interest of the State.
It changes the government as it sees fit, runs a government as necessary, rewrites
the constitution and incorporates the military into the new constitutional order.
Unlike the model of the paternalistic state, which operates within the constitutional
framework, the military-sanctioned political processes operate beyond and above
the constitutional framework. Consequently, legitimacy in its modern sense is
always a serious problem for such a political order.

POPULAR WILL Government exercises on behalf of the people.

Political liberalization and democratic transition toward the end of the twentieth
century has turned the ideal of government founded on a social contract and a
popular will into a political reality in an increasing number of Pacific Asian countries.

ORGANIZATION OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

The head of state is and head of government are

two separate positions, with the executive power
shared between the two.