Forms of Legitimacy
- Numinous legitimacy
In a theocracy, government legitimacy derives from the spiritual authority of a god or a goddess.
- In Ancient Egypt (ca. 3150 BC) the legitimacy of the dominion of a Pharaoh (god–king) was theologically established by doctrine that posited the pharaoh as the Egyptian patron god Horus, son of Osiris.
- In the Roman Catholic Church, the priesthood derives its legitimacy from a divine source; the Church doctrines establish that the papacy based upon Jesus Christ’s designation of St. Peter as head of the earthly church, thus the sanctity and legitimacy of each pope.
- Civil legitimacy
The political legitimacy of a civil government derives from agreement among the autonomous constituent institutions —legislative, judicial, executive — combined for the national common good; legitimate government office as a public trust, is expressed by means of public elections.
Read more about this topic: Legitimacy (political)
Famous quotes containing the words forms of, forms and/or legitimacy:
“How superbly brave is the Englishman in the presence of the awfulest forms of danger & death; & how abject in the presence of any & all forms of hereditary rank.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“[In government] the problem to be solved is, not what form of government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“In New York—whose subway trains in particular have been “tattooed” with a brio and an energy to put our own rude practitioners to shame—not an inch of free space is spared except that of advertisements.... Even the most chronically dispossessed appear prepared to endorse the legitimacy of the “haves.””
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. “Cleaning and Cleansing,” Myths and Memories (1986)