Systemic foundations of the legitimacy of political power

Annotation

Creating conditions for maintaining the legitimacy of political power is one of the most important issues in modern political science, as it creates the basis for maintaining the stability of the political system without the need to resort to legitimate violence. In the conditions of uncertainty that characterize the environment of modern political systems, addressing this issue is filled with new meaning. The purpose of this article is to analyze the systemic foundations of the legitimacy of political power using the legacy of the outstanding American political scientist D. Easton. A systems approach was used as the theoretical and methodological basis for the study, which allows considering legitimacy as an element of the political system necessary to maintain its stability and sustainability. Easton's ideas about the legitimacy of political power are compared with M. Weber's concept of political domination. D. Easton's main works on systems analysis and behavioralism, as well as modern studies on the legitimacy of power, were selected as scientific sources. The results of the study show that from the point of view of the systems approach, the following bases of legitimacy are distinguished: ideological, personal and structural. Easton's theory of the political system confirms the importance of political socialization (politicization) and support (trust), thus guaranteeing the preservation of the stability of the system. In the course of the study, limitations of D. Easton's concept of the legitimacy of power were identified, since excessive schematization leads to the reduction of complex political processes. Also, for a full analysis of the mechanisms of legitimization, it is necessary to integrate the normative and empirical foundations of political science. Despite this, Easton's concept of legitimacy retains its relevance and can be used to analyze modern problems of the legitimacy of political power.

Keywords

• theory of political systems
• behavioralism
• post-behavioralism
• D. Easton
• M. Weber
• charisma
• operational values
• articulated values
• politicization
• party ideologies
• legitimizing ideologies
• ideological legitimacy
• structural legitimacy
• personal legitimacy
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References

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