The Legitimacy Crisis in the United States: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

A “legitimacy crisis” is widely perceived to exist on the basis of polls of public attitudes reflecting a precipitous decline in confidence in societal leadership, increasing manifestations of illegal, antisocial and repressive behavior or policies, and the demonstrable structural failures of the state to respond to fundamental human needs. Some attention is given to the fact that there are different types of legitimacy crises, that delegitimation may focus upon various dimensions of the legal order, and that a legitimacy crisis is ultimately a relative state of affairs. Insofar as broad causes of a legitimacy crisis may be identified, it has been associated with the attributes of a modern mass society, the specifically capitalist nature of some contemporary societies, and the impact of special events and circumstances such as the Vietnam War and Watergate. A conceptualization of a legitimacy crisis, with perceptual, behavioral and structural dimensions, has been provided and may serve as a point of departure for further research, analysis and political speculation.