State Legitimacy and Social Order

Abstract

Our world is one of states. Virtually all of the land mass of the globe today is the territory of a (single) state, and virtually all humans alive are subject to the laws of a state. Some countries or societies are degenerate cases of a state (e.g., Somalia, Congo), and others are relics of pre-modern Europe (e.g., Liechtenstein, San Marino, the Vatican). But even these aspire to be states or are often thought of as states. “International relations” are principally relations that obtain between states. The concept of legitimacy seems to be essential to making sense of this world of states. States always claim to be legitimate, and they are often recognized as such. Legitimacy is widely held to be very important, and the lack of it debilitating. With some frequency it is said that we face a crisis of legitimacy, and often a particular state is said to lack legitimacy. Without legitimacy, it is sometimes thought, there is not much that states, even very powerful ones, can do. There is, however, massive confusion about legitimacy. Contemporary discussions betray a notable lack of clarity and understanding about legitimacy and associated concepts. Sometimes it seems that parties to a dispute have different conceptions in mind – possibly different concepts – and may not, in effect, be talking about the same thing. Other times it is hard to know what they are thinking of. Disorder in the world may not be unrelated to disorder in our thoughts. What follows is an opinionated overview of the topic of state legitimacy and of its connections to social order. Much that I shall offer will be analysis, with part of the needed evidence or argument left out for reasons of space. But I think that clarity alone is immensely helpful with respect to the questions at hand.