vol� 75(3)/2022, pp� 105–115
DOI: 10�15804/athena�2022�75�06
BASIC ANALYTICAL ELEMENT OF POWER LEGITIMACY:
THE IDEA
PODSTAWOWY ELEMENT ANALITYCZNY LEGITYMIZACJI
WŁADZY: IDEA
Bożena Iwanowska*
— ABSTRACT —
The aim of the article is to present the concept of
legitimacy of power throughout history in philo-
sophical, political, and legal thought� Particular
attention is paid to confronting political and
sociological views, which place emphasis on the
social reception and acceptance of power, with
the concepts of lawyers, for whom formal aspects
are more important� The author also introduces
the English-speaking reader to a different way
of understanding the term ‘legitimacy of power’
among Polish researchers, which is a result not
only of their original scientific concepts, but also
of semantic differences between the term itself in
Polish and English�
Keywords: power; legitimacy; efficiency; political
structure
* University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Faculty of Social Sciences�
www�athenaeum�umk�pl
ISSN 1505-2192
— ABSTRAKT —
Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie koncepcji
legitymacji władzy na przestrzeni dziejów
w myśli filozoficznej, politologicznej i prawniczej�
Szczególną uwagę poświęcono skonfrontowaniu
poglądów politologicznych i socjologicznych,
kładących nacisk na społeczny odbiór i akcep-
tację władzy, z koncepcjami prawników, dla
których większe znaczenie mają aspekty for-
malne� Autorka przybliża ponadto czytelnikowi
anglojęzycznemu odmienny sposób rozumienia
terminu „legitymacja władzy” wśród polskich
badaczy, co jest wynikiem nie tylko ich orygi-
nalnych koncepcji naukowych, ale także różnic
semantycznych samego terminu w językach
polskim i angielskim�
Słowa kluczowe: władza; legitymizacja; skutecz-
ność; struktura polityczna
106 ATHENAEUM vol. 75(3)/2022
Polish Political Science Studies

METHODOLOGICAL REMARKS

The problem of power legitimization has been considered by researchers since

ancient times� The aim of the article is to show what is the very notion of legiti-
macy of power and its development in the historical process, as well as present
the contemporary disputes on this topic� The research method used to achieve
the goal was the content analysis of the primary sources and the in-depth review
of scientific literature�
As far as the model approach and typology is concerned, this article focuses
only on the presentation of the concept of the idea of legitimacy of power while
separate studies should focus on the following pillars of legitimacy of power:
sources, functions and meaning of power legitimacy, concepts and typology or
dimensions and categories�

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

The idea of the legitimacy of power is explained below mostly from a histori-
cal perspective� Some scientists point out that the term legitimacy is of ancient
origin as it was already used in ancient times in such expressions as legitimum
imperium (legal imperial power) or potestas legitima (legal civil power) (Coicaud,
2002, p� xvi)� The idea of justice raised by Plato in ancient Greece as well as
Aristotle’s ideas of the organizational forms of the state comprised the problems
of legitimacy� In the Roman Empire, legitimus (in Latin) meant ‘lawful’ or ‘accord-
ing to law’ (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, n�d�, par� 12)� Later
on, St� Augustine’s political theology and his concept of the City of God where
legitimacy is exclusively applied was also carrying the ideas of heavenly peace
and justice, i�e�, the questions of ‘legitimizing’ connotation�
From the medieval times to the nineteenth century, the term can be rarely
found in the political thought of the philosophers of those times, such as Mar-
silius of Padua, John Locke, or Joseph de Maistre� As the basis for power legiti-
macy Marsilius did not see God’s inspiration but the constitution of human
society, the consent of people and constitutional election� Locke thought that
all political institutions, including monarchy, should be grounded on people’s
consent and an appropriate agreement� De Maistre was Locke’s opponent and
considered kings to have legitimate right to rule through their existence and
succession�
 Bożena Iwanowska: Basic Analytical Element of Power Legitimacy 107

At the beginning of the 20th century, the term legitimacy became one of the
most important categories in the theory of power and society� That category was
developed by Max Weber who is regarded as one of the founders of twentieth-
century social science (Beetham, 1991, p� 8)� Introducing the conception of power
legitimacy into social science, Weber was of the opinion that society’s belief in
legitimacy is a decisive factor for power legitimacy and that power is legitimate
if society considers it to be legitimate� For Weber, legitimacy is equivalent to
belief in legitimacy� From the above Weberian line of argument, it results that
the whole idea of power legitimacy is based on a principle or belief about when
power is or should be understood as legitimate�
Due to this notion, in the second half of the 20th century Weber’s definition
of legitimacy found many followers� For example, the legitimacy of the political
system was defined as its ability to create and hold the belief that the existing
power structures are the most suitable for a given society (Lipset, 1963, p� 64)�
Another definition describes legitimacy as a particular governmental quality
that makes the government legitimate, i�e�, the quality ascribed to the powerful
by society or its part as ability to stimulate legitimacy (Merelman, 1966, p� 548)�
But the Weber-inspired definitions of legitimacy have met with a rising criticism�
One of these critics points out that such definitions lead to dissolving legitimacy
into belief or opinion� It is enough that a given society maintains the belief that
the existing power structures are appropriate or morally proper and then those
structures are regarded as legitimate (Schaar, 1969, p� 284)� Another Weber’s
opponent argues that by insulating sociologists from the context of assessment
Weber prevents them from judging legitimacy or illegitimacy according to
rational objective standards (Pitkin, 1972, p� 283)� Yet another one indicates that
the Weberian approach is deprived of moral judgement and that it does not refer
to a regime itself as such an approach lacks a normative evaluation of the regime
whose qualities should be the following: the correctness of applied procedures,
justification of decisions, and fairness to its subordinates (Grafstein, 1981)�
It seems that the greatest Weber’s critic is David Beetham� The scholar thinks
that Weber’s definition of legitimacy is wrong� Weber describes legitimacy as
people’s belief in legitimacy what makes legitimacy particularly convincing
in the age of media propaganda and public relations� Beetham argues that if
people believe in the legitimacy of power, it can be so because the powerful
might have been successful in public relations campaigns, because they have
managed to convince people that they are legitimate, because their legitimacy
lies in the hands of the powerful themselves (Beetham, 1991, p� 9)� Beetham is
108 ATHENAEUM vol. 75(3)/2022
Polish Political Science Studies

of the opinion that the Weberian conception is mistaken because it “reduces the
legitimacy of power to people’s belief in its legitimacy” (Beetham, 1991, p� 38)�
For Beetham, the criticism against the Weberian understanding of legitimacy,
expressed by H� Pitkin as well as R� Grafstein, is entirely justified as the Weberian
definition of legitimacy does not satisfy the criteria of normative philosophy and
leaves a social scientist without possibilities of explaining why people’s belief in
the legitimacy of power can be found at some times or places and not at others
(Beetham, 1991, p� 10)� Beetham claims that Weber’s definition wrongly presents
the role played by beliefs in legitimacy� The way of acquiring and exercising
power does not depend on people’s belief as it is rather a matter of judicial
evaluation that should be taken into account in terms of accordance with the
binding rules of law (Beetham, 1991, p� 12)� Beetham describes the relationship
between beliefs and legitimacy differently� He writes: “A given power relationship
is not legitimate because people believe in its legitimacy but because it can be
justified in terms of their beliefs” (Beetham, 1991, p� 11)� The scholar sees here
a fundamental distinction� He argues that when trying to assess the legitimacy
of a regime, a political system, or any power relation, we are, in fact, assessing
to what degree it can be justified in terms of people’s beliefs, in other words, to
what extent it conforms to their values or standards, to what extent it satisfies
their normative expectations� That means that: “We are making an assessment of
the degree of congruence, or lack of it, between a given system of power and the
beliefs, values and expectations that provide its justification� We are not making
a report on people’s belief in its legitimacy” (Beetham, 1991, p� 11)�
Power can be executed in different ways� In undemocratic countries it may
be felt by the subordinates as constraining, humiliating, or even life-threatening
(Beetham, 1991, p� 3)� For this reason, societies try to limit power to some justifi-
able rules and the powerful seek to get consent to their power from at least the
most important among their subordinates� That is why in democratic countries
the power of presidents is limited to two terms� To Beetham, power is legitimate
or rightful when it is acquired and exercised according to justifiable rules, and
with evidence of consent (Beetham, 1991, p� 3)� This way he equates legitimacy
with rightfulness� The scholar fully defines power legitimacy as a set of the fol-
lowing factors which make power legitimate or contribute to its legitimacy: “the
legal validity of the acquisition and exercise of power”, “the justifiability of the
rules governing a power relationship in terms of the beliefs and values current
in the given society”, “the evidence of consent derived from actions expressive of
it” (Beetham, 1991, pp� 12–13)� It results from the above definition that: “Power
 Bożena Iwanowska: Basic Analytical Element of Power Legitimacy 109

is illegitimate where it is either acquired in contravention of the rules (expro-

priation, usurpation, coup d’état), or exercised in a manner that contravenes or
exceeds them” (Beetham, 1991, p� 16)�

CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTS

During the last fifty years, there appeared many publications on political legiti-
macy in which legitimacy began to be understood diversely� It was the time when
a lot of imperial colonies in Africa and Asia fought for freedom and gained
independence� As a result of World War II, some countries in Central and Eastern
Europe were dominated by the Soviet Union that installed in them communist
regimes that seized power by usurpation in the presence of the Red Army and
had no true legitimacy� People’s struggle for independence in the European com-
munist countries, the fall of the communist systems in the satellite countries
of the Soviet Empire, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold
War between the West and the East, the development of some new European
states that were formerly the union republics of the USSR and Yugoslavia, all
those facts provided fuel for scientists dealing with the problems of legitimacy�
Legitimacy received various definitions and was considered from different per-
spectives comprising a wide range of social and political phenomena� Moreover,
legitimacy started to be used with reference not only to power in general but
also to power structures including political, administrative, and legal institutions�
An example is the definition of the legitimacy of a political system (mentioned
above) introduced by S�M� Lipset� Another one shows some practical problems
connected with political legitimacy in the contemporary world where legitimacy
is also referred to governments and their representatives in other countries or
international organizations (d’Aspremont, 2006, pp� 883–884)�
Here are some more contemporary definitions of legitimacy� “Legitimacy is
a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are appro-
priate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and
definitions” (Suchman, 1995, p� 574)� “Legitimacy is the meaningful, cultural
substance of sovereignty, just as territory or population is its material substance�
Sovereignty is conditioned by the terms of legitimacy” (Bukovansky, 2002, p�
12)� “The distinction between law and legitimacy is an old one for political
philosophers and intersects with the equally familiar discourse on the grounds
of political obedience� Power is the capacity simply to enforce a particular form
110 ATHENAEUM vol. 75(3)/2022
Polish Political Science Studies

of behaviour� Authority signifies the capacity to create and enforce rights and
obligations which are accepted as legitimate and binding by members of an
all-inclusive society who are subject to the authority” (Thakur, 2010, p� 3)�
Another exhaustive definition of the legitimacy of power that deserves atten-
tion is that of T� Biernat: “Political power is legitimate if: a) it is acquired and
exercised according to the established rules (is legal), b) legal sources of power
(norms) as well as goals and rules of its exercise can be justified in accordance
with socially accepted belief, c) the position of power is acknowledged through
expressed support or consent and through recognition on the side of another
authority” (Biernat, 2000, p� 5)� As the author acknowledges, his definition refers
to that of Beetham and is often accepted in political science theory�

CONTRIBUTION OF POLISH RESEARCHERS

Finally, it is worth quoting the newest and probably most exhaustive definition
of legitimacy presented by H� Domański and A� Rychard� They write initially:
“Legitimacy is a state in which submitting to rules and state institutions results
from society’s belief that they are worthy of this submitting� In other words,
society recognizes the rightfulness of the rules organizing social order, of institu-
tions, politicians and of the ruling class” (Domański & Rychard, 2010, p� 7)� In the
conclusion of their argument, the scholars maintain as follows: “Speaking most
generally, the system is legitimate when it satisfies the needs of people, and above
all – when the need of submitting to power has some normative basis� Since, it is
obvious that submitting to power does not always result from legitimacy: it may
be a result of fear, pragmatic or non-reflective adaptation or a kind of calculation�
Unlike these determinants, legitimacy is a state when people think that power
has a moral right to await subordination, that its legitimizing claim is justifi-
able” (Domański & Rychard, 2010, p� 9)� Writing about the nature of legitimacy,
H� Domański and A� Rychard point out that the acceptance of authority does
not make it legitimate� Against a background of distinguishing legitimacy from
acceptance, let us pay attention to the difference between the notions of legal
power and legitimate power� According to J� Habermas, legal rule is not a source
of legitimacy, but on the contrary, it is legitimacy that can give legality� So, the
decisions of legitimate power are legal decisions (Wesołowski, 1988, p� 60)� To W�
Wesołowski, the legitimacy of legal rule is possible when the State represents the
will of citizens and the forming of this will is procedurally protected and when
 Bożena Iwanowska: Basic Analytical Element of Power Legitimacy 111

the State realizes to some degree the values which can be determined as demo-
cratic in a wide meaning� The above-mentioned thesis is proved by the existence,
even periodically, of “legal” regimes which have no legitimacy (Wesołowski, 1988,
p� 51)� The Polish governments that ruled the country in the period 1997–2005
are a good example (Domańki & Rychard, 2010, p� 8)�
The problem of legitimacy of power is also present in the works of other
Polish scholars, especially lawyers� Already in the eighties of the last century,
Piotr Winczorek (1985), Grażyna Skąpska and Jerzy Stelmach (1988) wrote on
this subject� Later studies focused on the subject of democratic transformations�
Anna Młynarska-Sobaczewska (2010) wrote about the meaning of law in the
process of legitimization of power in the state during the transformation, and
Tadeusz Biernat (2003) described the creation of a new legal order in the context
of the development of European structures and globalization processes� The same
author also commented on the legitimacy of power in the political aspect (Bier-
nat, 2000)� Tomasz Kubin (2014) wrote an in-depth analysis of the legitimacy
of the institutional system of the European Union� The role of the judiciary in
legitimizing the system of power in Poland was also studied by Andrzej Bałaban
(2017), Stanisław Burdziej (2017), Włodzimierz Gromski (2009), and Anna
Machnikowska (2016)�
Recent studies refer to attempts at deep reforms of the judiciary after 2016
and the controversies surrounding them� In the context of the supreme courts,
the works of Marek Zirk-Sadowski and Tomasz Grzybowski (2016) should be
mentioned here, and the dispute around the composition of the Constitutional
Tribunal was analyzed by Tomasz Bekrycht (2017)�

RELATIONS BETWEEN LEGITIMIZATION AND MORALITY

Let us mention here that among various proposals of the definitions of power
legitimacy there can be also found views considering moral aspects� For example,
R�E� Lane claims that “the system is considered as lawful when its leaders’ claim
to the legitimacy of their power as well as the procedures of behaviour used by
them and the results of their actions are considered as morally right; granting
lawfulness is the effect of moral assessment” (Lane, 1979, p� 55)�
E� Jasińska-Kania thinks that the argumentation concerning power legitimacy is
connected with the notions of justice and moral judgment which are shaped in the
process of development of human personality (Jasińska-Kania, 1991, pp� 98–100)�
112 ATHENAEUM vol. 75(3)/2022
Polish Political Science Studies

The above-mentioned definitions convince that the legitimacy of power is of

dichotomous character� To be considered as legitimate, power should be not only
acquired according to some rules of law but also exercised within the determined
limits of law� This means that any power executed not in conformity with law
regulations ought to be recognized as illegal� This character of power legitimacy
is at present commonly accepted in social sciences�
Power legitimacy has become the subject of interest of moral and political
philosophers, political scientists, constitutional lawyers, sociologists (Beetham,
1991, p� 8; Biernat, 2000, pp� 5–6; Coicaud, 2002, p� 10)� They all try to answer
some fundamental questions which become particularly important during social
and political conflicts� Among such questions two of them are quite simple and
difficult to answer: what makes power legitimate, and to what extent�
Political philosophers focus on identifying principles which are necessary for
justifying power as well as on moral principles for justifying political relations�
It means that “power is legitimate when the rules governing it are justifiable
according to rationally defensible normative principles” (Beetham, 1991, p� 5)�
It is worth emphasizing that for moral philosophers, legitimacy is also involved
with the moral justifiability of power relations (Beetham, 1991, p� 5)�
Legal experts, and especially constitutional lawyers, assume that power is
legitimate only when it is acquired and exercised in conformity with established
law (Beetham, 1991, p� 4)� For legal experts, legitimacy and legal validity are
equivalent terms�
Political scientists and sociologists, in turn, are not very much interested
in moral or legal considerations� They concentrate on explaining the following
problems:
– what makes power legitimate;
– what are the consequences of legitimacy for the character of power
relations, including the possibilities of obedience or support of the
subordinate to the powerful;
– what are the grounds of people’s expectations about a power relationship;
– when do the powerful lose their legitimacy;
– why is power exercised more coercively in some situations;
– what are the causes and consequences of people’s disobedience;
– what are the causes of the “erosion of power relations” that may result in
dramatic breaches of social order leading even to riots, revolts, or revolu-
tions (Beetham, 1991, pp� 5–7)�
 Bożena Iwanowska: Basic Analytical Element of Power Legitimacy 113

Legitimacy means an authorization to act� It is an entitlement for the ruling

to make binding decisions approved by the ruled� Granting legitimacy is based
on the principle of the freedom of choice what excludes violence and fear as
a source of subordination�
Some Polish researchers remark that in the literature on the subject, i�e�, on
problems concerning legitimacy, there exists some terminological confusion
about the English terms legitimacy and legitimation and their translations into
Polish (Biernat, 2000, p� 6)� A Polish author defines legitimacy as a state of the
political system and/or its elements which by society or significant social groups
are accepted as legally valid, appropriate, justified� The process leading to that
state is called legitimation (Sokół, 1997, p� 4)� That is why one should be careful
when using such terms� Legitimacy can be acquired, for example, by a country’s
leader, or can be lost� Those who have acquired legitimacy are legitimate� The
adjective legitimate has two meanings: (1) fair or reasonable, (2) acceptable or
allowed by law� We usually have in mind the second meaning when speaking
or writing about the ruling or governing bodies� The same refers to the noun
legitimacy which means: (1) legality or rightfulness as well as (2) justifiability�
As it was said earlier, legitimacy is treated interchangeably in its meaning to
rightfulness (Beetham, 1991, p� 4)� Moreover, the verb legitimize has its equivalent
form of “legitimate” in American English� The noun legitimization is certainly
derived from the verb legitimize� So, the terms legitimation and legitimization
can be used as synonyms�
In Polish, the most common term is ‘legitymizacja’ (meaning ‘legitimacy’ and
‘legitimation/legitimization’) which is referred both to the process of gaining
legitimacy and to the result of legitimation� However, some Polish authors also
use the term ‘legitymacja’ in the sense of legitimacy� So, the Polish terms ‘legity-
mizacja’ and ‘legitymacja’ are often used equivalently�
Legitimacy is not given to the powerful once and for all� They may strengthen
their legitimacy and get a high support of the subordinate, or they can weaken
their legitimacy to such a degree that it becomes absent� The collapse of govern-
ment or coup d’état are examples where legitimacy is suddenly broken� Riots,
revolutions, civil wars, or invasions are situations when legitimacy is usually in
a fragile state for some time and can be lost as a result of them� There are some
terms which describe power which lacks legitimacy: illegitimacy, legitimacy defi-
cit, delegitimation� Such situations can be observed during the erosion of power
structures, dictatorship, or revolutionary mobilization (Beetham, 1991, p� 20)�
114 ATHENAEUM vol. 75(3)/2022
Polish Political Science Studies

CONCLUSIONS

Political power structures recognize legitimacy as an important asset� To maintain

a hegemonic relationship with society, power structures put in place mechanisms to
protect themselves against the abuse of lateral power� They take proactive measures
to protect their legitimacy� Even in liberal democracies there are circumstances in
which coercion may be seen as acceptable in order to guarantee the stability of the
larger community at the expense of the individual� Power structures often go to
great lengths to secure favorable outcomes for themselves, even using tools such
as propaganda� Rituals and symbols can help gain and maintain legitimacy as well,
especially in the process of the transfer of power� Any power that does not appear
to be properly earned can be challenged and deemed illegitimate� Ultimately, all
power structures depend upon legitimacy for their survival�

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