Political Legitimacy in Historical Political Economy

Avner Greif and Jared Rubin

Working Papers from Chapman University, Economic Science Institute

Abstract: Political legitimacy has long been recognized in the social sciences as an integral component of governance. It encourages obedience without the threat of force, thus lowering governing costs and improving the efficacy of policies. This chapter begins by overviewing the extensive literature on political legitimacy, classifying studies by whether they are based on the beliefs (regarding the legitimacy of the authority) or effectiveness (good governance is legitimate governance). Among the studies focusing on beliefs, most take legitimacy as an exogenous element of political authority. We develop a conceptual framework to study how beliefs regarding political legitimacy form endogenously and impact political power, institutions, and policies. We conclude with numerous examples from historical political economy that reveal the usefulness of this framework.

Keywords: political legitimacy; beliefs; endogenous legitimacy; legitimacy principle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B15 H11 N30 N40 N43 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chu:wpaper:22-08

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