Theories of political legitimacy are concerned, in short, with states’ moral right to create and enforce laws and regulations, and to see these respected by their citizens. Of all available...Show moreTheories of political legitimacy are concerned, in short, with states’ moral right to create and enforce laws and regulations, and to see these respected by their citizens. Of all available theories of legitimacy, so-called consent theories are often taken to be a straightforward and convincing way of grounding such a right. Despite this advantage, many also argue that virtually no existing state secures the valid consent of its citizens, undermining the theories’ success in the real world. In face of such challenges, several thinkers have proposed various societal reforms to bring about widespread, valid consent, thereby safeguarding states’ legitimacy. The work at hand offers an overview of three of the most convincing so-called reformist consent theories and argues that all face serious challenges. It then argues that panarchy, a largely overlooked meta-political framework that defends a plurality of non-territorial states and that places citizen’s direct express consent at its core, successfully answers these challenges, gaining the theoretical upper hand over other reformist theories. It then concludes by assessing some of the strongest objections against panarchy, underlining the strengths and weaknesses of the theory, and spelling out venues for further research.Show less
The production of political legitimacy is an open-ended process that is created by the continuous reproduction and negotiations between the ruling regime and its citizens. This thesis aims to...Show moreThe production of political legitimacy is an open-ended process that is created by the continuous reproduction and negotiations between the ruling regime and its citizens. This thesis aims to answer the research question How has insecurity and the role of inefficient institutions affected the political legitimacy of Felipe Calderón's 2006-2012 presidential terms? The research paper first explores the parameters of political legitimacy and utilises the normative approach as a theoretical framework of political legitimacy in combination with Hansen's definition of political legitimacy as components to measure Felipe Calderón's regime legitimacy. Thereafter, the text analyses the utilization of electoral legitimacy and revolutionary legitimacy as a tool to maintain and re-assert power and legitimacy during the PRI era, Vincente Fox's administration and its continual use during Calderón's presidential term. Furthermore, the thesis also examines the effects of the three minor variables: criminal violence, media, and public perception on (in)security and (in)efficient institutions on three specific events: the 2006 Mexican presidential election; Felipe Calderón's war on drugs; and the opening event of the monument Coloso and have founded that the insecurity and the role of inefficient institutions have largely decreased the political legitimacy of Felipe Calderóns 2006-2012 presidential term. The paper concludes that Calderón's presidential term was deemed as intially legitimate by the public during electoral process. However, the increase in insecurity and the inefficiency within state institutions greatly decreased the regime's legitimacy by the end of Felipe Calderón's presidential term.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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This thesis analyses the development of Ryukyuan narratives of political legitimacy under the influence of the imperial Chinese tributary system. For centuries, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was...Show moreThis thesis analyses the development of Ryukyuan narratives of political legitimacy under the influence of the imperial Chinese tributary system. For centuries, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was annexed by Meiji Period Japan in 1879 and is today divided among Japan's Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures, formed an important linking bridge between China and Japan, East Asia's two dominant political entities. Based on a close reading and partial translation of relevant passages from several historical documents, most notably the kingdom's two official histories Chūzan Seikan and Chūzan Seifu, the thesis investigates the socio-political shift in succeeding conceptualisations of Ryukyuan kingship, the monarch's political legitimacy, and the country's state doctrine that occurred from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Show less
