Showing papers on "Legitimacy published in 1987"

On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation

Abstract: The theoretical controversies that the notion of social justice provokes today go far beyond the traditional framework of debates about the respective roles of the market and the state in the distribution of wealth.' The principal arguments that have been proposed seek, in effect, to define social rules capable of bringing about the unanimous agreement of individuals. The most radical form of liberalism maintains that protection against arbitrary coercion is the sole common aim of all human beings living in society. The liberty of individuals is identified with their security: protected from coercion by others, every individual may freely seek happiness as he understands it, determine his own goals, and attempt to realize them, at least as long as this exercise of his freedom does not encroach upon the freedom of his fellows. Security is thus the only acceptable political principle; while all individuals have different concrete goals, they all wish to pursue their own goals in peace. If the rules promulgated by the political authorities limit themselves to guaranteeing liberty as defined in this manner, they can be universal, and apply to all in an identical fashion, because liberty is the sole aspect under which all individuals are strictly identical. Indeed, whenever

Contested Boundaries in Policy-Relevant Science

Abstract: In the United States, as in other industrialized nations, regulatory decisions to protect the environment and public health depend heavily on scientific information. Yet the process of decision-making places unusual strains on science. Knowledge claims are deconstructed during the rule-making process, exposing areas of weakness or uncertainty and threatening the cognitive authority of science. At the same time, the legitimacy of the final regulatory decision depends upon the regulator's ability to reconstruct a plausible scientific rationale for the proposed action. The processes of deconstructing and reconstructing knowledge claims give rise to competition among scientists, public officials and political interest groups, all of whom have a stake in determining how policy-relevant science should be interpreted and by whom. All of these actors use boundary-defining language in order to distinguish between science and policy, and to allocate the right to interpret science in ways that further their own inte...

The Idea of Chinatown: The Power of Place and Institutional Practice in the Making of a Racial Category

Abstract: Racial categories are cultural ascriptions whose construction and transmission cannot be taken for granted. I focus here on the process by which racial categories are themselves constructed; in particular, I examine the presence of place and the role of state in the making of one such category, the “Chinese,” in a British settler society from the 1880s to the 1920s. I argue that “Chinatown,” like race, is an idea that belongs to the “white” European cultural tradition. The significance of government is that it has granted legitimacy to the ideas of Chinese and Chinatown, inscribing social definitions of identity and place in institutional practice and space. Indeed Chinatown has been a critical nexus through which the race definition process was structured. I examine this process in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the municipal authorities of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries sanctioned the intellectual milieu of race. They did this, I argue, as part of the historical exercise ...

How to Become a Dominant French Philosopher: The Case of Jacques Derrida'

Abstract: How can an interpretive theory gain legitimacy in two cultural markets as different as France and the United States? This study examines the intellectual, cultural, institutional, and social conditions of legitimation of Jacques Derrida's work in the two countries and develops hypotheses about the process of legitimation of interpretive theories. The legitimation of Derrida's work resulted from a fit between it and highly structured cultural and institutional systems. In France, Derrida capitalized on the structure of the intellectual market by targeting his work to a large cultural public rather than to a shrinking group of academic philosophers. His work appealed to the intellectual public as a status symbol and as a novel and sophisticated way to deal with late 1960s politics. In the United States, Derrida and a group of prestigious literary critics reframed his theory and disseminated it in university departments of literature. His work was imported concurrently with the work of other French scholars ...

Beyond Monopoly: Lawyers, State Crises, and Professional Empowerment

Abstract: How do professional associations build their resources and establish authroity? What are the conditions under which professional expertise can be mobilized for political action? If professional organizations are endowed with a wealth of resources, do they use them responsibly or only for economic monopoly? What is the potential scope of professional action today? In this pathbreaking study of the legal profession, Terence Halliday raises and addresses these questions combining extensive data from the rich archives o the Chicago Bar Association, one of the nation's largest and wealthiest bar organizations, with data from a national survey of bar legislative and judicial action. "Beyond Monopoly" demonstrates that the primary commitment of lawyers to economic monopoly has long been complemented by "civic professionalism" as the legal profession takes on more responsibility in the American democratic system when state capabilities diminish. Through his examination of three types of state crises in the 1950s and 1960s the challenges to legitimacy in the legal system, the crisis of individual rights during McCarthyism and the civil rights eras, and the fiscal crises of various state governments Halliday shows that large bar associations can have extensive influence on any institution that is regulated by law. He argues that lawyers have the capability of turning social and political issues into technical legal matters in what he calls an "idiom of legalism." Under technical guise, lawyers come to exercise moral authority. Halliday maintains that the American legal profession over the past century has gone from a formative stage, when controlling its market in the delivery of legal services was paramount, to an established phase in the past two decades, when it has committed extensive resources to the complex needs of the modern state. A de facto bargain has been struck: if the state leaves the profession's monopoly fairly intact, the profession can use its expert resources to help the state adapt to strain and crisis. It can do so not only in the legal system, where it has been championing "autonomous" law, but in other spheres as well from the economy to the private sphere of individual rights. Halliday confirms that the legal profession deploys its expertise not merely to attain professional dominance, to control a market, or to purvey an ideology, but to increase the viability of democratic institutions. "Beyond Monopoly" introduces a pioneering approach to a historical and comparative sociology of the professions that will be of vital interest not only to sociologists, but to political scientists and lawyers as well."

The Possibility of Politics: A Study in the Political Economy of the Welfare State

Abstract: In this study of the welfare state the author asks whether it works and, depending on the answer, goes on to consider what this says about the success of political reform. The basic concepts of poverty and economic efficiency are considered in the light of political science, sociology and economics. The methodology of income redistribution research is restated and reconsidered, and approaches which are often regarded as alternatives are examined. The author provides a framework for the analysis of public policy within the theory of rational action and analyzes this under six headings: legitimacy, governability, poverty, equality, efficiency and activity.

The Strategy-Legitimacy Nexus: A Thick Description

Abstract: This paper argues that interpretive strategy formulation is a multilevel process grounded in language and the politics of propriety, trust, and awareness in organizations, and that the establishment of legitimacy is a collective process in which leaders, followers, and stakeholders alike participate in the making of meaning.

Resistance, Rebellion, and Consciousness in the Andean Peasant World, 18th to 20th Centuries

Abstract: The contributors historians and anthropologists from a number of countries move beyond the traditional structural analysis of society to a finer understanding of people as actors. Native Andean initiatives and consciousness are clearly placed at the center of this inquiry, which merges the best methods of history an anthropology. Stern begins with a vigorously argued theoretical essay in which he identifies major findings and arguments running throughout the book, demonstrates their pertinence to the more general field of peasant studies, and draws out the implications for theory and method. He reappraises the role of peasant consciousness and political horizons; and the significance of ethnic factors in explaining "peasant" consciousness and revolt. The case studies themselves revamp the history of Andean peasant rebellion and consciousness in Peru and Bolivia. This is accomplished by studying violent uprisings as transitional moments within a long-term trajectory embracing varied forms of resistance, and by scrutinizing closely the ideological and cultural aspects of domination, political legitimacy, and rebellion. The results sharply alter our understanding of three major historical problems: the crisis of Spanish colonial rule and the outbreak of native Andean insurrection in the eighteenth century; the response to peasants to creole wars and nation-building efforts in the nineteenth century; and the political strategies and dilemmas of Andean peasants in the context of populist and radical politics in the twentieth century."

The political psychology of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: How can we overcome the barriers to a negotiated solution?

Abstract: Six political-psychological assumptions are presented as the basis for this paper's argument that direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are necessary and possible and for its delineation of the requirements of such negotiations. The last of these assumptionsthat neither party will enter negotiations that leave its right to national existence in doubtis linked to the psychological core of the conflict: its perception by the parties as a zero-sum conflict around national identity and existence. This view has led to a mutual denial of each other's identity and right to exist and systematic efforts to delegitimize the other. Such efforts have undermined the steps toward negotiation that leaders on both sides have in fact taken because each defines the negotiating framework in ways that are profoundly threatening to the other. Negotiations are possible only in a framework of mutual recognition, which makes it clear that recognition of the other's rights represents assertion, rather than abandonment, of one's own rights. Such negotiations can be facilitated through a prenegotiation process conducive to differentiation of the enemy image, including a breakdown of the monolithic view of the enemy camp, a distinction between the enemy's ideological dreams and operational programs, and a differentiation between negative and positive components of the other's ideology and symbols of legitimacy.

The national front in France and the construction of political legitimacy

Abstract: The National Front in France has experienced a meteoric increase in support since 1981, attacting about ten per cent of the vote in elections at every level. The principal issues on which the party has won support ‐ immigration and security ‐ have become key domestic issues. This article analyses the rise of the party and the inability of the established parties of the right to maintain the confidence of their supporters. It also examines a process of construction of legitimacy in which political elites of right and left participated. Finally, an evaluation is made of the National Front's ability to maintain and expand its electoral strength.

Islam and the state

Abstract: Examining the theoretical problems which arose when the modern European ideology of nationalism was adopted by Muslim societies organized into formally modern states, this book also deals with the practical difficulties arising from the doctrinal incompatibility between Islam and the non-Muslim concept of the territorial nation-state. It illustrates this conflict with a consideration of the record of several states in the Islamic world. It suggests that whereas the state, an organization of power, has been a most durable institution in Islamic history, the legitimacy of the nation-state has always been challenged in favour of the wide Islamic Nation, the "umma", which comprises all the faithful without reference to territorial boundaries. To this extent too, the more recent conception of Arab nationalism projects a far larger nation-state than the existing territorial states in the Arab world today.

The Relationship Between Children's Legitimacy Judgments and Their Moral Reasoning, Aggression Tendencies, and Sport Involvement

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) the relationship between children’s judgments regarding the legitimacy of potentially injurious sport acts for adults and for children, (b) the relationships between children’s legitimacy judgments and their moral reasoning, aggression tendencies, and sport involvement, and (c) the relative ability of the latter three variables to predict legitimacy judgments. Analyses were based on 78 girls and boys in grades 4 through 7 who participated in a moral interview, completed aggression ten dency and sport involvement questionnaires, and evaluated the legitimacy of potentially injurious sport acts depicted in a series of slides. Analyses revealed that children accepted more acts as legitimate for adults than for children. Boys’ legitimacy judgments were significantly related to their moral reasoning, aggression tendencies, and involvement in high-contact sports, but girls’ legitimacy judgments were correlated only with their life aggression tendencies. Children’s...

Gorbachev's Social Contract

Abstract: The Soviet economic slowdown is explained in the context of an eroding “social contract” between regime and society, established in the 1950s and defined as a set of norms, constituency benefits, and political-economic institutions which elite and public have regarded as legitimate means of regulating their mutual relations. Gorbachev must rebuild state legitimacy; the “objective,” mutually constraining relationship between economic system and state legitimation implies that a new social contract can serve as a “test” of Gorbachev's intent to pursue “radical” economic reform. Evidence suggests that prospects for radical reform have risen substantially since Gorbachev's election as General Secretary. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 830.

Democratic Stability and Economic Crisis: Costa Rica, 1978–1983

Abstract: This article explores the relationship between economics and politics by examining the impact of economic crisis on democratic stability. It attempts to test the thesis proposed by Seymour Martin Lipset that economic crisis is not directly linked to political stability but is mediated through two fundamental components of the political culture: effectiveness and legitimacy. Previous empirical research on this hypothesis has been limited by four interrelated factors outlined in the article. The study overcomes these limitations by using a refined measure of legitimacy (called “political support-alienation”) and focusing on Costa Rica, a country that has experienced a severe economic crisis but has nonetheless maintained democratic stability. The article reviews the historical process of building democracy in Costa Rica, describes the nature of the economic crisis, and traces its impact with a series of cross-section surveys.

Parties and Elections in Greece: The Search for Legitimacy

Abstract: Although Greece acquired the formal institutions of liberal constitutional democracy early in her independent history, her politics have been characterized by clientelism, instability and frequent military intervention. The most blatant instance of 'praetorianism' was the military dictatorship of 1967-74. Yet in the years since the Colonels' downfall, the political system appears to have acquired a new legitimacy. Although many features of the 'old' politics remain, recent years have seen the collapse of the traditional centre and the emergence of new political formations, reflecting the rapid pace of post-war socio-economic change. And 1981 saw the election by a convincing majority of a socialist government, the first ever in Greece, committed to radical domestic transformation and to a major reorientation of external relations.

Performance evaluation of state-owned enterprises in theory and practice

Abstract: This study explores the goal orientation of state-owned enterprises SOEs with a view to develop a behavioral theory of SOEs. It is set in India, where as in many other countries the government expects SOEs to promote the "public interest" rather than maximize profits. The research design consisted in searching for patterns in the subjective evaluations of a set of Indian SOEs by critical environmental actors senior bureaucrats and influential journalists. The study attempted to get at each respondent's "espoused theory" for performance evaluation as well as his or her "theory-in-use," and compared both with official goals as well as the prescriptions of welfare economists. Five models of performance evaluation, varying in criteria and weighting schemes, were considered. The results showed-with surprising consistency-that commercial profitability was the most important criterion that explained bureaucrats' subjective evaluations. Lack of comprehensive information seemed to accentuate their reliance on profitability-but not by very much. For a minority of bureaucrats Type 1, the more important explanation seemed to be their "incorrect" belief that SOEs could be judged like private firms, official policy notwithstanding. For the majority Type 2, who espoused views consistent with official policy, the explanation seemed to be conceptual confusion or double standards. Both types also behaved as if they would like SOEs to maximize profitability rather than just break even or earn a reasonable return. Some of these findings were true for responding journalists as well. Given these results, managers of Indian SOEs can be expected to seek profits not only to reduce financial dependence on government but also to gain a measure of external legitimacy. Recognizing the importance of profitability as a criterion-in-use, they can be expected to propose strategies that would increase their firm's profitability and resist those that would reduce it, regardless of official goals. Where managers are free to act independently, profitability may prevail as the dominant decision criterion, but where they are not, the outcome may depend on more complex factors. More generally, the profit motive in SOEs may be as strong or stronger than it appeared to be in India in countries with a less sophisticated administrative systems or personnel; b an official ideology more to the right than in "socialist" India; and c a higher proportion of mixed enterprises. The paper concludes with the implications of these findings for the design of performance evaluation systems at the government-SOE interface.

Towards a Political Economy of Reform, Regulation and Corporate Crime

Abstract: This paper focuses on the passage and enforcement of laws regulating the corporate sector, specifying patterns which seem to emerge from this literature in the major English speaking democracies. The creation of regulatory laws, the typical resistance by the industry and the state, and the crucial role of crises in the successful passage of laws are examined first. The patterns which law enforcement follows, and the key role of the regulatory agency in shaping these, are delineated next. The theoretical implications of these empirically based generalizations are then set out. The author argues that neither the pluralist nor the mainstream Marxist analyses adequately explain the very real progress that has occurred over the past 400 years in containing corporate crime, because it has happened largely in spite of rather than because of laws and regulatory activity. Real reform resulted because ongoing struggles forged a change at the ideological level, and this in turn led to improvements at the level of production. By raising the price of legitimacy for corporations in a particular nation-state, prolaterian groups and their allies can create the conditions for change. Law and regulatory agencies have been of secondary importance, it is argued, in the struggle to restrain the predatory behavior of the corporate sector.

Mosca and the Theory of Elitism

Abstract: Part I: Gaetano Mosca and the Doctrine of the Political Class 1. The life and times of Gaetano Mosca (1858-1941) 2. Birth of the doctrine of the political class 3. The concepts of the open system 4. The Bourgeois myth of the middle class as the political class 5. The development of the scientific system as a comprehensive ideology (1896) 6. From the nineteenth to the twentieth century 7. Codification of the doctrine 8. Legitimacy and power during the European crisis of the 1930s Part II: Elitism, Neo-Elitism and Democracy 9. The 'Italian school of elitists' between myth and reality 10. The development of elitism in the English-speaking intellectual political tradition 11. Gaetano Mosca and the intellectual political tradition in Italy after the Second World War (1945-1985) 12. Towards a critical conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography.

Federalism: Evaluating The Founders' Design

Abstract: Raoul Berger stands for the honorable tradition that a scholar must put aside his own social and economic predilections and look only to original sources in seeking the meaning of the United States Constitution. His numerous books and articles have addressed many of the most pressing questions about the organization and prerogatives of the three branches of the federal government, including the President's right to withhold information from Congress,' the congressional power of impeachment,2 the reach of executive war powers,3 the scope of judicial authority under the fourteenth amendment,4 the legitimacy of capital punishment,5 and the congressional power to remove controversial matters from the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.6 On some of these issues (executive privilege, impeachment, war powers, and jurisdic-

The Politics of Research Methodology in Claims-Making Activities: Social Science and Sexual Harassment

Abstract: Taking sexual harassment as an example, we analyze the politicization of methodological issues in the development of an emergent social problem. Scientific debate reflects not only disagreements over the substance of competing claims, but disagreements over the nature of science itself. We argue that claims for a problem's legitimacy within the scientific community depend in large part upon assessments of methodological adequacy—hinging upon questions of generalizability, operational definitions and measurement instruments, and data, particularly how they are analyzed and reported. We conclude that methodology, as well as theory, reflects political bias, and should be a critical consideration in analyses of the natural history of social problem

Liberalism and the Communitarian Critique

Abstract: self to the quest for impartiality, not Rawls's particular version of the concept. People act as abstract selves when they make moral choices under constraints that rule out factors irrelevant to the selection of principles of justice. Of course, the idea of the abstract self could be used to support spurious claims to impartiality. Some have argued that Rawls smuggles arbitrary substantive conceptions of the person into the original position (see, e.g., Schaar, 1974, pp. 77-81). Since the concept does not entail an Archimedean position of absolute impartiality, particular formulations of the abstract self must be subject to revision. Nevertheless, when seeking impartiality persons must assume the constraints of an abstract self. An argument about principles of justice must, like a jury, be sequestered from considerations favorable to the interests of particular persons. Bias must constantly be removed in an unending search for more defensible principles. Some who are committed to impartiality may question the concept of the abstract self. We suggest, however, that the distinctive constraints of an abstract self are so important that theorists who try to avoid the concept often interject it when they strive for impartiality. For example, James Fishkin believes that hypothetical constructs like the original position are not required by liberal theorists, that principles of justice can be distilled from real social conditions. "The idea is to attempt so far as possible to purge the actual on-going society-rather than some imaginary counter-part-of bias and indoctrination" (1985, p. 25). Yet, he thinks that refined motives must be brought to bear on the existing situation. Refinement occurs when "the motivation for choosing principles has been altered or filtered in the interests of impartiality" (Fishkin, 1985, p. 22). When motivations are thus refined, a person adopts the constraints of an abstract self. The distinction between the abstract self and the living self helps to delineate two concepts of individualism-sociological individualism This content downloaded from 207.46.13.73 on Thu, 11 Aug 2016 05:07:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms LIBERALISM AND THE COMMUNITARIAN CRITIQUE 645 and moral individualism. Sociological individualism is a false view of the living self because it assumes that persons are not connected by intrinsic social bonds. This notion of individualism deserves the attack of communitarians, for an empirical case against it has been confirmed in most of the social sciences. Moreover, communitarians often point out that sociological individualism can lead to the claim that authoritarian institutions are needed to produce order among warring individuals (Sandel, 1984, p. 7; Barber, 1984, pp. 109-12). Moral individualism, the conception of persons on which the idea of the abstract self is based, presupposes a capacity for moral choice that cannot be reduced to the performance of given roles. It emphasizes that although people cannot escape social ties, they can critically evaluate shared understandings. Persons who seek impartial principles of justice cannot be totally constituted by their social (and natural) environment, and moral deliberation about justice is not possible if they can only recite prevailing prejudices. Although Rawls thinks that his idea of the original position does not presuppose a view of the essential nature of the self, Gutmann points out that his theory is incompatible with the notion of a radically situated self (Gutmann, 1985, p. 313). Rawls emphasizes that people in the original position "regard moral personality. . . as the fundamental aspect of the self" (1971, p. 563). Such persons presume that the self may choose the good and have a sense of justice (Rawls, 1985, p. 244). Moreover, liberals are not alone in rejecting the idea of the radically situated self. The communitarian theorists that we examine do so as well. For example, Sandel thinks the self is not completely defined by a particular society. He refers to "the capacity of the self through reflection to participate in the constitution of its identity" (1982, p. 144). As a "selfinterpreting being, I am able to reflect on my history and in this sense to distance myself from it, but the distance is always precarious and provisional" (Sandel, 1982, p. 179). Another communitarian, Carole Pateman, is critical of the idea of an abstract self because, like Sandel, she does not distinguish it from the living self. However, she also rejects the radically situated self: "Individuals are not completely submerged in their rules, meanings and oughts, but are also superior to them, and use them as a necessary basis from which they judge, choose and act, and create and change their social relationships" (1986, p. 29). One of Rawls's critics thinks that those who have a "relations-centered conception of the good," that is, communitarians, understand that persons have the "capacity for autonomous self-direction" (Rodenwald, 1985, p. 240). Nevertheless, because communitarians emphasize the living (encumbered) self, they have difficulty providing theoretical grounds for personal autonomy. In order to adopt the constraints of an abstract self, a person must be able to choose principles as a free moral agent. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.73 on Thu, 11 Aug 2016 05:07:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 646 Robert B. Thigpen and Lyle A. Downing The moral agent who freely adopts the constraints of an abstract self is not a Kantian "transcendental ego," that ghostly entity conceived as a response to philosophical problems that are insoluble in a mechanistic universe. Rather, the idea of the moral agent articulates the undeniable experience of moral choice. Even a deterministic psychologist like Milton Gordon admits that "as individual human beings engaged in making decisions at virtually every moment . .. we must and do act as though we had free will" (1978, p. 41). Of course, the exercise of moral choice can either be politically suppressed or permitted. However, the experience cannot be accounted for theoretically by the concept of a self that is engulfed by social and natural determinants. If the potentiality of persons for free moral choice is grounded in human nature, this capacity provides a foundation for the idea of human rights. Deontological liberals recognize that, since persons cannot exercise essential capacities except under certain conditions, they have a human right to these conditions. For example, Alan Gewirth argues that a "rational agent" (his formulation of the concept of the abstract self) would claim a human right to freedom and well-being (1978, pp. 59-63). In criticizing Gewirth, MacIntyre admits that a rational agent must will the possession of freedom and well-being, but he denies that the presence of a need establishes a right (MacIntyre, 1984, p. 66). Gewirth replies that although every need does not generate a right, such an agent would claim a human right to the freedom and well-being that are absolutely necessary for the exercise of rational agency (Gewirth, 1985, p. 745). Dismissing the idea of the rational agent as a liberal invention, MacIntyre states that human rights have been claimed only in modern individualistic societies. Indeed, he finds no expression in any ancient or medieval language that corresponds to our term "a right" (1984, p. 66). We suggest, however, that, since language derives its meaning from context and function, different words could be used to claim human rights. Gewirth argues that rights-claims can sometimes be expressed as "demands that social institutions be established, as when slaves revolt against their masters, or in other revolutionary situations" (1985, p. 747). His idea of the rational agent thus supports this political argument for the right to freedom and well-being: if a community can provide these goods, then a rational agent will accept the legitimacy of the political system to the extent that it does provide them.

We, the Family: Constitutional Rights and American Families

Abstract: Since the 1970s, the Supreme Court of the United States has told a story of consistent and enduring constitutional protection for the privacy and self-determination of families and their members. Early cases, regardless of their own contexts and contemporaneous meanings, have been reworked to fit this tale. This essay challenges that story as mythical. Under examination, the cases that appear as central elements in the story woven by the Court more accurately reflect struggles between majority and minority religious or ethnic groups. The Court treated those struggles as problems of families, individuals, and the state, thereby obscuring deeper societal conflicts while creating an incoherent jurisprudence about families, a jurisprudence tugged and pushed by other concerns. Critical to the Court's story about families and the Constitution have been notions of family privacy and family rights, articulated as though they match rights of autonomous individuals. Yet, because families involve groups and relationships, the Court and advocates before it have produced divergent applications of rights rhetoric in the service of conflicting and inconsistent individual interests of men, women, and children. The Court's assertion of a tradition of constitutional protection for families, although producing inconsistent results, responded at a rhetorical level to concerns about the legitimacy of constitutional adjudication. The Court's story also reflects a century of grass-roots and political advocacy by and on behalf of women and children that adapted the language of rights to problems affecting families. Although reacting to group interests, needs, and demands, the Court ultimately embraced a language of rights that implemented a conception of individualism. "Family" in this essay does not mean some immutable or preordained social grouping.' The essay uses as a working definition the idea of families as social units

Legitimacy, Authority and the Transfer of Power in Ghana

Abstract: The problems of authority and legitimacy experienced by post-colonial states are often explained in terms of a ‘colonial legacy’ The validity of this hypothesis is examined, in the case of Ghana,

Old and new politics: The Dutch peace movement and the traditional political organizations

Abstract: . On the basis of data on the Dutch peace movement, we study the relationship between traditional organizations of political intermediation such as parties, unions and churches with a new social movement on the local level. After having argued for the relevance of the institutional context, the general structure of new social movements and the particular structure of the movement under consideration with regard to this relationship, we first present evidence confirming our claims that we are dealing with new social movement. Then we show that the relationships in question are quite elaborate confirming the hypothesis that political activity within traditional organizations and new social movements is to some extent cumulative. More generally, the results imply that the development of the peace movement and other new social movements in the Netherlands is not indicating a diminishing legitimacy of the Dutch political parties.

From Colonialism to Professionalism: The Public-Private Dynamic in United States Foreign Financial Advising, 1898–1929

Abstract: This chapter analyzes the forms that United States foreign financial advising took during the transitional period from 1898 to 1930, after territorial colonialism had ceased to seem a viable way of imposing financial arrangements, but before the advent of post–World War II international financial institutions. It focuses on Latin America in order to develop a structural framework for understanding the different relationships from which North American financial advisory missions to various nations drew authority and legitimacy. In 1904, the Dominican Republic became a laboratory for working out new means of reforming the "backward" financial practices of foreign nations. The Dominican government accepted the foreign receivership in order to get the loan; the bankers extended the loan only because the convention's guarantee of government involvement minimized the risk; and policy makers used the loan to force a financial rehabilitation that would, they felt, advance the strategic concerns of the United States in the Caribbean.

Democratic Stability and Economic Crisis

Abstract: This article explores the relationship between economics and politics by examining the impact of economic crisis on democratic stability. It attempts to test the thesis proposed by Seymour Martin Lipset that economic crisis is not directly linked to political stability but is nmediated through two fundamental components of the political culture: effectiveness and legitimacy. Previous empirical research on this hypothesis has been limited by four interrelated factors outlined in the article. The study overcomes these limitations by using a refined measure of legitimacy (called "political supportalienation") and focusing on Costa Rica, a country that has experienced a severe economic crisis but has nonetheless maintained democratic stability. The article reviews the historical process of building democracy in Costa Rica, describes the nature of the economic crisis, and traces its impact with a series of cross-section surveys. When historians of Latin America look back on the decade of the 1980s, they are likely to point to the unprecedented wave of democratization as the period's most noteworthy feature. Throughout the region there have emerged formal, constitutional democracies replete with open elections, active party competition, and noticeable increases in freedom of press and expression. Even human rights violations, so widespread in the 1970s, seem to be declining in many nations. Even among those who are most deeply impressed by these developments, however, there remains a deep skepticism of the long-term viability of these newly democratic regimes. Central to this skepticism is the fear that the deepening economic crisis that has afflicted

Political Legitimation in Contemporary Afghanistan

Abstract: In an article published in 1984, the American journalist Selig Harrison argued that the "concept of legitimacy has little meaning against the backdrop of recent Afghan political history."1I This is a startling claim, for as Dolf Sternberger has suggested, "it is hard to discover any sort of historical government that did not either enjoy widespread authentic recognition of its existence or try to win such recognition."2 In sharp contrast to Harrison, one can plausibly argue that it is impossible to understand the state of contemporary Afghan politics without adverting to the problems of legitimacy and legitimation that confront the present regime in Kabul, which was brought to office by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on December 27, 1979. This paper opens with some general observations about legitimation in communist political systems. It then considers the historical patterns of loyalties in Afghanistan, explores the implications of these patterns for the consolidation of the Kabul regime, and suggests why it is that a number of the legitimation devices typically deployed in communist countries have proved defective in Afghanistan. Finally, it sets out some conclusions about both short-term and long-term strategies being pursued by the regime to increase its legitimacy, and puts forward some views about their likely effects. A necessary qualification is that the approach of this paper is general, and that it is usually possible to advance examples countering any generalizations about problems of legitimation in Afghan politics. However, as is often the case in politics, gen-