Popular Legitimacy

Abstract

The American and French Revolutions derived from—and promoted—a concept of legitimacy based on popular consent and the public will. This concept displaced the practice of relying on dynasticism, the prescriptive rights of hereditary monarchs. As a result, plebiscites have taken the place of dynastic marriages as mechanisms for the legitimization of transfers of sovereignty. Noteworthy examples include decisions in the unification of Italy and in the European settlement of 1919–1920. Plebiscites have not, however, been conducted when Great Powers have ruled them out—for instance, France’s rejection of a plebiscite concerning Alsace-Lorraine after the First World War. Popular legitimacy raises questions about the defining characteristics of a self-governing nation—its size and capacity for self-defence, its language and history, and the allegiance choices of its citizens. Disputes over minority rights may raise questions about national identity and cohesion, including the possible founding of new states seceding from established countries. In some cases, such as Israel, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, religion is a fundamental source of identity and state legitimacy.