State Legitimacy Research Articles

Nationalism and Northern Ireland: a rejoinder to Ian McBride on ‘ethnicity and conflict’

ABSTRACT The concept of ‘Ethnicity’ still enjoys some currency in the historical and social science literature. However, the cogency of the idea remains disputed. First coming to prominence in the 1980s, the word is often used to depict the character of social relations in the context of conflicts over sovereignty. The case of Northern Ireland presents a paradigmatic example. This article is a rejoinder to Ian McBride’s contention that my scepticism about the notion lacks justification. With reference to disputes over the state, I show in response that ‘ethnicity’ in effect means nationality. I further claim that the nation state is a successor to the dynastic state. In clarifying the meaning of this arrangement, the article brings out how the nation is a juridical rather than empirical category. More specifically, it derives from the notion of corporate personality in law. For this reason, its retrospective integrity is a matter of fabrication, depending on the fiction of ancestral continuity. At the same time, its future-oriented cohesiveness means that it must be invested with a unifying will. I conclude that the legitimacy of a nation state rests on its democratic will, whose coherence is expressed in the action of its government.

Evaluating normative capacity through Arctic environmental governance

International cooperation in the Arctic is largely operationalised through environmental governance in a constellation of institutions that promote scientific knowledge of the Arctic region. While the Arctic Council is placed at the centre of this network for environmental protection and resource management across the region, other institutions play critical roles in facilitating scientific knowledge production that promotes the security and development of the region and its resources across national boundaries. Evaluating the role of environmental protection in Arctic governance within models of science diplomacy, this paper argues that the assumption of environmental responsibility should act as a normative operator for Arctic environmental governance, shaping the relations between actors in this regional network and legitimising decision-making by Arctic states as they socially construct the mechanisms and regional exceptionalism of Arctic governance. However, environmental responsibility falls short of acting as a normative operator for environmental protection that also prevents the impact of climate change on the Arctic environment, excluding its function as an overarching normative operator for the international system, reducing state legitimacy for regional decision-making in extra-territorial spaces.

Ukrainian unitary state: principles of territorial organization, characteristics, specificity of decentralization

The article examines the problem of the unitary state. A key place is occupied by the principles of the territorial system of Ukraine, in particular, people’s rule, publicity, legality, equality of administrative and territorial units, stability, systematicity, compliance with the norms of international law. In the conditions of reforming the territorial system of Ukraine, the objects and phenomena of a territorial nature, the content of the system-forming connections between them undergo qualitative changes. The foundations of the territorial organization of unitary Ukraine are enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine, in particular, in its article 132. The Basic Law of Ukraine defines that the territorial organization of the state is based on the principles of unity, integrity of the state territory, a combination of centralization and decentralization in the exercise of state power, balanced socio-economic development of regions, considering their historical, economic, ecological, geographical, demographic characteristics, ethnic and cultural traditions. The fundamental principles of the territorial system of Ukraine include: the principle of unitarism, the principle of the inviolability of the territories of Ukraine, the principle of guaranteed territorial integrity and state sovereignty. The article pays special attention to the characteristic features of a unitary state: territorial supremacy, a system of legitimate state authorities, a single constitutional and legal system, a single citizenship, a single and indivisible economic space, a single credit and monetary system and financial policy, national state symbols, national armed forces and law enforcement system, absolute international legal personality. It is emphasized that the formation of a type of unitary state is influenced by the order of formation of administrative and territorial units. The unitary state system of Ukraine is the main underlying principle of the constitutional system of the state. Unitarianism is of great importance and role in the civilizational development of Ukraine. The Constitution of Ukraine declares a combination of centralization and decentralization in the territorial organization of the state. Since 2014, the functioning of public power in Ukraine has been moving away from centralization with an emphasis on decentralization, which is characteristic of the decentralized model of public power. This decentralization should be based on the strengthening of the constitutional and legal status of local self-government. In the unitary state model, the power distribution mechanism works in a special mode characteristic of it, forming a balance of power. Key words: Ukraine, unitary state, principles of territorial organization, signs of a unitary state, democracy, local self-government, decentralization.

“I do not consent”: political legitimacy, misinformation, and the compliance challenge in Australia’s Covid-19 policy response

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between policy compliance, the emergence of alternate epistemes and authorities in online spaces, and the decline of trust and legitimacy in democratic institutions. Drawing on insights from public policy, regulation theory, and political theory, the paper critically engages with scholarship on “policy-takers” to illuminate the tensions of compliance and legitimacy in liberal states. It proposes a compliance–legitimacy matrix that identifies the features of policy compliance—including consent, legitimacy, expertise, and trust—and their relationship to the disaggregation of policy knowledge. The article applies this framework to a case study of social media posts that respond to policy information during the management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia. Through analysis of these posts, the study reveals the distrust in “the science” and experts advocated by government and the calls from skeptic groups for noncompliance with public health measures. The paper argues that public policy faces an epistemic crisis of public confidence, with significant downstream consequences for compliance with public policy initiatives that has been brought on both by the failures of states to cultivate trust in science and the government. The compliance–legitimacy matrix offers a useful tool for policymakers to anticipate and address objections from policy-takers and to preempt and diffuse their fears.

Relationship Between State Legitimacy, Economic Policy Uncertainty, and Entrepreneurship: Empirical Evidence From Europe

This study aims to analyze the relationships between economic policy uncertainty (EPU), state legitimacy, entrepreneurial activity, and business opportunities. To achieve this goal, 13 European countries are selected for the period 2002 to 2018. Applying partial least squares structural equation modeling, relevant findings were obtained. The results show that higher economic uncertainty is associated with an increase in a country’s entrepreneurial activity, although the perception of entrepreneurial opportunities does not increase. We also observed an inverse relationship between EPU and legitimacy. A higher perception of legitimacy is related to lower entrepreneurial activity and higher opportunities for entrepreneurship. These findings have relevant implications. From the academic point of view, the results make new contributions to research related to the importance of the institutional context and entrepreneurial activity, considering the relationships between EPU and legitimacy and their influence on entrepreneurial activity. We also highlight how policymakers may influence the perception of state legitimacy and, therefore, have an impact on entrepreneurial activities and opportunities.

Making Markets out of Vice: Gambling, Cannabis, and Processes of State Legitimation and Formation in Canada

The legalization of gambling and cannabis and the transformation of these practices/substances into consumer markets are processes of state legitimation, naturalization, and (re)formation in Canada. This article examines the moral-cultural transformation of gambling and cannabis over the last 50 years and analyzes these transformations in terms of state-culture dynamics. Where lotteries were legalized in the context of the welfare state, the expansion of gambling beyond lotteries in the 1990s has occurred as the federal state ceded jurisdiction of gambling to the provinces. The consequence has been the direct role of the provinces in the creation of gambling markets. Notwithstanding the monopolization of cannabis by some provinces, the opening of cannabis to private industry (e.g., sales) has occurred relatively quickly. In its central role in market making, the state, paradoxically, appears to disappear. However, the legalization and expansion of gambling and cannabis represent an increased positioning of the state at the nexus of civic and consumer cultures. State formation around consumption of gambling and cannabis centers on state entrepreneurialism and depends on retaining, yet reinventing, notions of harm with a shift from a generalized morality of nation and national spirit to individual risk calculation.

Discrepancy between theory and practice: Democratic recession or a crisis of state legitimacy?

ABSTRACT The discrepancy between democratic theory and practice is common to all democratic and quasi-democratic governments. Democratic recession manifests where there is an extreme discrepancy between normative democratic values and their practice – for instance where the state has flouted democratic normative rules (theory) and rendered major democratic institutions dysfunctional. This article posits that democratic recession can be seen in the 21st century as a reaction to at least four factors: 1) shifts in global geopolitics, 2) a crisis of representative democracy, 3) democratic silence, and 4) the rise of populism and post-truth framing. Indices of democracy do not, however, reveal the extent of the state’s role in undermining democratic institutions (ie, political parties, election monitoring bodies, parliaments, the media, civil society), due to a bias of liberal individualism. The outcome has been a crisis of state legitimacy, where citizens lose trust in the state rather than in democratic governance.

Disasters and Corruption: Public Expectations and Tolerance, Evidence from Mexico.

Disaster corruption is a vexing problem, damaging state legitimacy and exacerbating human suffering. Mexico has a history of both major disasters and persistently high levels of corruption. A 2017 earthquake provided an opportunity to study change over time in expectations for, and tolerance of, corruption in disaster relief. Twenty years earlier, Mexico City residents expected, on average, essentially 3 out of 10 hypothetical trucks with humanitarian assistance to be lost to corruption but expressed near zero tolerance for such corruption. By 2018-2019, Mexico City residents expected more than half of all relief, 6 out of 10 trucks, to be stolen - and could tolerate 3 out of 10 trucks being pilfered. Similar results were found at the national level. Mexicans appear to be giving up on the state. Addressing corruption in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian relief specifically might provide a template for improving public trust across other state institutions.

EU FAST TRACK MEMBERSHIP: CAN IT HELP UKRAINE RESOLVE ITS REAL PROBLEMS?

In 1991, during its inception process, Ukraine faced Russia's territorial claims and a cold reception from the Western world towards its leadership. After evaluating its internal and external interests, Ukraine chose to sign a friendship and cooperation agreement with Russia, compromising its rights as a sovereign state. This decision kept the complex issues of cross-border irredentism and multiple identities in check. However, during the democratic transition, external actors got involved in Ukraine's domestic politics, resulting in the removal of President Yanukovych's government. This critical juncture set the trajectory for unleashing Ukraine's state-ness issues. External involvement and political mismanagement aggravated Ukraine's problems and transformed its political issues into state-legitimacy issues, making its claim of a single entity void. Without state legitimacy, Ukraine cannot join the EU or consolidate as a democracy. Even if it enters the EU, it cannot safeguard its state sovereignty or achieve a profitable deal. This post-positivist research uses process tracing within a case study to highlight Ukraine's real problems and whether EU membership can help resolve them. The best solution for Ukraine is to focus on its domestic issues and negotiate with the other actor for a peaceful solution. Bibliography Entry Siddiqi, Houma. 2023. "EU Fast Track Membership: Can It Help Ukraine Resolve Its Real Problems?" Margalla Papers 27 (1): 13-27.

A Structure/Process Approach to Legitimacy: A Local Official's Selection and Legitimation of a Tax Policy in Mid‐Late Ming Dynasty China

AbstractMost studies on the connection between the legitimacy of an authority and its policy selection and legitimation follow a structure approach to legitimacy, which recognises an authoritative actor's selection and legitimation of a policy as determined by the subjects' collective commitment to values. Consequently, it cannot empirically explain policy variation under collective commitment to values and changes in those values. Building on existing processual theories and following the conceptualisation of legitimacy as a social process, this study proposes an integral process approach to legitimacy whereby an authority selects and legitimises a perceived legitimate policy towards subjects. Drawing on findings from a negative case methodology applied to the selection and legitimation of a tax policy by an official in Ming China, this study offers substantive content for an integral process approach to legitimacy. It develops the state legitimacy concept and contributes to emerging theories on the legitimacy dimension of fiscal state formation. Empirically, this study illustrates how the data from the nationwide field survey in mid‐late Ming China were used in tax collection at the local level and illuminates the discrepancies between the survey data and that recorded in local official tax registers.

Corporate Social Performance, Legitimacy, and the Choice of Foreign Partners by State‐Controlled Entities in the Global Extractive Industries

AbstractWe study the outcome of the decision of a state‐controlled entity (SCE) to form an international joint venture (IJV) with a foreign partner in the SCE's country. Focusing on the perspective of the host SCE, we propose that in its search for a partner, the SCE will evaluate the sociopolitical legitimacy effect of a candidate partner's corporate social performance (CSP). Thereby, the SCE will consider CSP an important selection criterion because of its legitimacy effect on the selection decision, the SCE, the IJV, and the host state in the eyes of salient local and international stakeholders. Moreover, the legitimacy effect of a candidate partner's CSP will further influence the decision outcome through its interaction with the level of corruption in the candidate partner's home country, the extant sociopolitical legitimacy of the host state, and the number of neighbouring countries of the host country participating in international multi‐stakeholder initiatives. We find support for our hypotheses using a novel sample of extractive industries IJVs between SCEs from 48 countries and 203 foreign partners from 22 countries for the period 2000–15.

Influence of the relationship between the protector state and regional hegemon on the resilience of a non-recognised state

This article examines the factors of influence of relations between the protector state and the regional hegemon in terms of the resilience of the unrecognized state. The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the lessons learned from the Nagorno-Karabakh war and non-peace. Since the end of the Second World War new states have repeatedly emerged, secessions have occurred, and with them new conflicts. While some non-recognised states enjoy higher stability, others have great struggles in order to survive. Most of the literature focuses on the non-recognised states themselves and domestic factor, thus neglecting the role of global players as the regional hegemonn. The main objective of this paper is to find out whether hegemons (through the protector states) have an influence on the stability of the non-recognised states. A second alternative explanation emphasises the importance of the internal legitimacy of non-recognised states. Using the cases of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, the study attempts to answer these questions through a qualitative analysis. The analysis of Armenia’s foreign policy between 1991-1992 and 2020 and the resilience around Nagorno-Karabakh is the core of the empirical part. The results suggest that indeed relations between the hegemon and the protector state have an effect on the stability of the non-recognised state. A connection between the internal legitimacy of the non-recognised state and stability, on the other hand, cannot be concluded from the work. Despite the analytical function, the paper gives a good overview on the stability of non-recognised states, security policy and some of the post-communist conflicts.

Situating the Moral Basis for Secession in Territorial Rights: A Dualist and Nonalienation Account

Abstract This article grounds the morality of secession on two forms of collective self-determination: one manifests the communal goods of secessionists and the other the value of shared political institutions. Secession is morally valuable when the two are incompatible such that the claimant confronts persistent alienation. For remedial rights theories, only ‘strict violations’ permit secession. For primary rights theories, ‘broad violations’ grant secession as a last resort, and so this thesis, ‘collective self-determination as nonalienation’, should be accepted regardless. First, as the two collective forms of self-determination develop two forms of territorial rights, it supplements cogent accounts of territorial justification for, and claims to, secession. Second, as persistent alienation can have both strict and broad interpretations, it also provides moral grounds shared by remedial and primary rights theories if they concede the value of collective self-determination. The strict sense refers to persistent coercion that violates personal autonomy and nullifies state legitimacy. The broad interpretation denotes long-term political frustration caused by unreasonable prevention of greater collective autonomy that even legitimate states may achieve. Third, to verify whether this amounts to long-term political frustration and to address persistent alienation, secession should be regarded as a last resort, despite its support from the primary rights account.

Care as (re)capture: Data colonialism and race during times of crisis

This article examines the role that data-driven technologies play in expanding and reasserting the legitimacy of the US racial state during times of crisis. Specifically, I examine how prison officials used a software called Verus to reinforce the perceived necessity of penal institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Government officials used Verus to produce narratives that (1) recast criminalized communities as dangerous and therefore disposable and (2) shielded carceral institutions from liability for systematic neglect. Ultimately, the aim of this article is to contribute to emerging critical concepts such as “data colonialism,” a term that has largely been used to describe the social and economic consequences of parasitic data extraction and monopoly control of digital infrastructure. In addition to these issues, I argue that data-driven technologies are used as vehicles for movement capture and the reproduction of prison logics that enable modes of racialized economic exploitation that extend far beyond the high-tech innovation economy.

Migration levels and welfare support: evidence from the local level

ABSTRACT Does migration pose a threat to welfare state legitimacy? We address this prominent question with a multilevel analysis of novel survey data, the ‘Inequality Barometer’, which includes individual and local-level context data in Germany (6208 individuals, up to 401 local districts). Our results suggest that the public is more reluctant to support welfare where the proportion of migrants at the local level is larger. This effect even persists when welfare is directed at groups that are perceived as more deserving of welfare support (like children, sick or older individuals) and when we examine the levels of employed migrants (that pay into the welfare state). We also find that these effects are moderated by economic risk. Particularly, we find that individuals facing higher economic risk support welfare less than their counterparts when exposed to migration. Future research should expand the local-level approach and investigate the causal mechanisms that the welfare-migration nexus is based on in more detail.

The Rationality of the State in Hegel's Political Philosophy

The objective of this essay lies in the explanation of the normative Hegelian conception of the State, with the aim of understanding its political legitimacy in modernity. This thesis, which I will call the thesis of the legitimacy of the State, will be defended against the thesis of the phobia of the State, defended by various critics of Hegel. With this claim I will try to defend the rationality of the State in Hegelian philosophy. To do this, in the first section I will begin with the exposition of a whole series of criticisms raised againt the Hegelian State, while in the second section I will present the reasons concerning why Hegel conceived the State as a hieroglyph of reason, to end thus, in the third section, with a final sketch about the legitimacy of the modern state in Hegel's political thought.

The ESM Reform and Its Missing Legitimacy in Non-Euro Area Member States

The goal of this article is to analyse whether the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and its current reform have been subjected to sufficient legal and democratic approval in non-euro area Member States. It is argued that the establishment of the ESM and the consequential obligation to accede to it after entering the euro area is at least to a certain extent legally and democratically underpinned by Article 136(3) Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The establishment of the prospective euro area entrants’ obligation to join the ESM after adopting the euro is a manifestation of the normative value of Article 136(3) TFEU. However, the 2021 ESM reform has not been accompanied by a similar Treaty amendment and thus lacks legal and democratic legitimacy in non-euro area countries. This may have legal and political consequences for the obligation to adopt the euro in the affected countries. ESM, European Stability Mechanism Reform, ESM Treaty, Economic and Monetary Union, euro adoption, euro area entry criteria, Article 136 TFEU, democratic legitimacy

At War with Corruption: A Biography of Bill Price, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma by Michael J. Hightower

Reviewed by: At War with Corruption: A Biography of Bill Price, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma by Michael J. Hightower Aaron Bachhofer At War with Corruption: A Biography of Bill Price, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. By Michael J. Hightower. Foreword by Frank Keating. (Norman, Okla.: 2 Cities Press, 2021. Pp. xx, 466. $29.95, ISBN 978-0-9847056-3-4.) The idea that corruption and chicanery were both frequent and familiar to Oklahomans remains a widely accepted perception of the state’s political history. Proponents posit that residents tolerated this “Soonerism” out of a misplaced sense of prairie populism, general apathy, or genuine ignorance of modern protocol (p. xiii). In At War with Corruption: A Biography of Bill Price, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, independent historian Michael J. Hightower challenges that perception, arguing that Oklahomans were not tolerant of corruption. Rather, he asserts, the structure of state and local governments made corruption much too easy to institute and terribly difficult to eliminate. To support this notion, Hightower introduces readers to the political life of his friend William S. “Bill” Price, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1989 and who spent the vast majority of his public and private life seeking to end political malfeasance in Oklahoma. A native Oklahoman who saw corruption as a threat to the legitimacy of state and national institutions, Bill Price forged ahead in political circles with an enviable fortitude and a sense of fairness that governed his entire public career. Educated at Georgetown University and the University of Oklahoma, Price was a devout Catholic convert and a proud family man. After his tenure as a U.S. Attorney, he mounted unsuccessful campaigns for the governorship and a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, built a successful law practice, and advocated for criminal justice reform in Oklahoma. His reputation for honesty, hard work, and sharp intellect led his campaign manager and fellow political animal, Tom Cole, to remark that Price was “the best governor Oklahoma never had” (p. x). Aside from Price’s formative years, Hightower details, in abbreviated strokes, the painful series of political cancers that have plagued the Sooner State since its birth: the dispossession and murder of Indigenous Americans; the 1923 impeachment of the anti-Klan governor Jack Walton; the Oklahoma Supreme Court payola scandal of 1964; State Treasurer Leo Winters’s financial issues; and Governor David Hall’s extortion conviction, events that made national news regularly throughout the twentieth century. A significant part of the narrative’s second half focuses on Price’s prosecution of the Oklahoma county commissioner scandal—often called “Okscam” in state and federal circles. Hightower relates that the pervasiveness and normalization of county corruption stunned Price. Powerful county commissioners took bribes—often in exchange for awarding contracts—and the costs of their corruption were passed on to taxpayers. The fact that Price became the lead prosecutor ferreting out these crimes from his federal post illustrated a central weakness in Oklahoma law—the lack of multicounty grand jury systems that gave state prosecutors more discretion in their pursuit of justice. The scandal made Oklahoma a national political joke, but it encouraged officials to pursue much needed reforms in government purchasing and accountability. Price spent the rest of his tenure as U.S. Attorney investigating [End Page 396] drug cartels, bank fraud, corruption at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and other odious situations. Readers will find firsthand information included in these pages from Oklahoma political legends like G. T. Blankenship, Henry Bellmon, Frank Keating, Gene Stipe, and Tom Cole—men who helped shape politics in the state for upwards of seventy-five years. Most of the key “good guys” are included here—those who helped Price pursue wrongdoing or provided him with invaluable guidance during his political career. But Hightower’s narrative is missing a wider engagement with sources who might have been critical of Price, or at least those who challenged his commitment to law and order, which would have offered more balance. Hightower should be commended for offering readers a powerful, raw look at politics...

Discursive challenges: Power, state legitimacy and counter‐narratives in the Arab world

AbstractThe three articles in this special section address several processes of legitimisation in the contemporary Arab World. They provide compelling insights into why Islamist movements moderate, how alternative political orders arise in response to issues of state legitimacy and the ways in which regional and international actors legitimise their involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts. Unifying the three articles is a motivation to understand processes of legitimacy, sectarian identity and discourse, in the power vacuum following the Iraq War of 2003 and the Arab Spring of 2011. These seismic regional events have created a wave of identity entrepreneurs, who have pragmatically attached themselves to concepts of Islam, sect and democracy, in order to solidify their hold on legitimacy and power.

FENOMENA AL-LIWATH DALAM PARADIGMA (FILSAFAT PANCASILA) SILA KETUHANAN YANG MAHA ESA DAN KONSEP HUKUM ISLAM

This study examines the phenomenon of al-liwath in the paradigm (Philosophy of Pancasila), the Precepts of the Almighty Godhead, and in Islamic Law. The problem is whether or not liwath contradicts the first pancasila, violates pancasila or not and aims to find out the legal position of al-liwath in terms of Islamic law. From these problems arises the question of how the Philosophical View of Pancasila, the First Precept on the al-liwath Phenomenon in Indonesia and how the Islamic Law View on the al-liwath Phenomenon. This research is library research. Data is obtained through secondary sources (data) with primary material. After the data is collected, it is processed by reviewing with the author's research. Next, the data is narrated descriptively. The results are discussed with the theories put forward. The study found that Pancasila serves as the highest source of law in Indonesia. Indonesia does not allow behavior that is contrary to the noble values of Pancasila, because the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is a legitimate state based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. All people of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia have faith and devotion to God Almighty by adhering to moral and ethical values, noble morals, and noble national personality. In Islamic law, Allah Almighty forbids all unnatural actions because it has wisdom that is very beneficial for humans in thinking. Liwath or homosexual acts are forbidden by sharia and are more heinous than adultery. The punishment for homosexuality is dissenting among jurisprudence scholars, among others: Absolute Suicide, Sanction Equivalent to Zina and Subject to Ta' zir Law.