Legality and Legitimacy of Public Political Power: Theoretical Aspects (on the Basis of Syria)

Abstract

The Article is devoted to theoretical concepts of legality and legitimacy of public political power; it includes analysis of these concepts (including historical aspects of the constitutional evolution) on issues of legality and legitimacy of public political power of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic. The Article includes casual demonstration of vitals of legality and legitimacy of public political power of exercise public political power on Syria territory. The purpose of this analysis is systematic description of doctrinal approaches to such legal phenomena, as legality and legitimacy of public political power, their correlation, as well as content analysis of such legal phenomena on the example of social condition, existing on the territory of particular state at the certain historical period of its evolution. As a result of scrutiny of different approaches to the concepts of legality and legitimacy of public political power, the author comes to the conclusion about the necessity take into consideration particular political and legal contexts during making assertion about legality and legitimacy of public political power exercising at the certain period of its evolution. Specifically, if legal nature of legality of public political power doesn’t afford to use any other criteria excepting compliance such authority with positive regulation within particular legal system, then legitimacy of public political power provides latitude in the choice the criteria of the order of legitimacy. Herewith the author formulates particular criteria the presence of which provides an opportunity to determine the character of public political power as legitimacy, such as recognition of legitimacy object by public or authoritative body, compliance the public order considered as legitimacy with positive regulation and with more developed public order. The Article contains foundation of criteria of legality and legitimacy of public political power exercising on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic by consideration of the most obvious constitutional peculiarities of the Syrian Arab Republic including the consideration in aspect of the history of constitutional evolution of the state.