The Intransparency of Political Legitimacy

Abstract

Some moral value istransparent just in case an agent with average mental capacities can feasiblycome to know whether some entity does, or does not, possess that value. In thispaper, I consider whether legitimacy—that is, the property of exercises ofpolitical power to be (at least) permissible—is transparent. Implicit in muchtheorising about legitimacy is the idea that it is. I will offer twocounter-arguments. First, injustice can defeat legitimacy, and injustice can beintransparent. Second, legitimacy can play a critical function in our practicalthought, which sometimes requires intransparency.