The State as Subverter of Legitimacy

Abstract

This chapter examines political disobedience and the erosion or rejection of legitimacy. Resistance and the conscious denial of legitimacy are deliberate acts by discontented or disaffected subjects. The term ‘political disobedience’ is referred to as the performance of acts forbidden by law or the state which are consciously directed in some way against the authority of the state. The actions of governments, in so far as they are themselves likely to be the principal cause of the disturbance of legitimacy, make a contribution to the ensuing resistance. The causes and the character of both disobedience and denial of legitimacy are to be seen as much in terms of the state's actions as of the subjects. Just as states are the principal actors in legitimacy, there is much that they can do to destroy it, and have unrivalled power and opportunities for that destruction.