The Control Theory of Legitimacy

Legitimacy ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 7-31
Author(s):  
Philip Pettit

This chapter addresses the problem of legitimacy (that of morally justifying the way a state exercises monopoly power over its adult, able-minded, more or less permanently resident members) that every state poses and looks at different grounds on which a state might be thought to be legitimate. It considers benefit-based, merit-based, and will-based theories of state legitimacy. It suggests that theories of the third type, according to which the will of the state must not be dominating, are best from a republican perspective. It then considers three will-based approaches. Of these, it argues, only the ‘control’ approach ensures that individuals are not dominated.

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-332
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER HUGHES

AbstractTowards the beginning of the third book of De libero arbitrio, Augustine defends the compatibility of human freedom and divine foreknowledge. His defence appears to involve the idea that the will is essentially free. I discuss and evaluate Augustine's reasons for thinking that the will is essentially free, and the way that Augustine moves from the essential freedom of the will to the compatibility of human freedom and divine foreknowledge.


2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco D’Agostino

L’articolo propone l’antico tema della convivenza tra i popoli, quanto mai attuale al giorno d’oggi, per il fatto che ci troviamo di fronte a nuove forme di conflitto, non gestibili con vecchi parametri concettuali, che impongono di riflettere sul come sia possibile una società multiculturale. Le strade ipotizzabili per una convivenza a carattere interculturale e interreligioso sono soltanto tre: la via dell’assimilazione, la via della marginalizzazione e la via dell’integrazione: le prime due sono state abbondantemente sperimentate in diversi contesti politico-nazionali e mostrano da tempo tutti i loro limiti, la terza via è quella che, molto faticosamente, si cerca di mettere alla prova in molti paesi del mondo di oggi ed è quella che richiede un significativo impegno intellettuale e di buona volontà (politica e morale). Un punto essenziale che qualifica il modello dell’integrazione è il primato della persona, secondo due linee: il primato della persona sullo Stato di cui sia cittadina e il primato della persona sulla comunità di cui essa sia un membro. La persona è intesa nel suo essere soggetto in relazione, giacché essa manifesta tutte le proprie potenzialità donandosi all’altro e non chiudendosi autoreferenzialmente in se stessa. Questo è il fondamento autentico di ogni progetto di pace, che prima ancora di essere un progetto politico possiede il carattere di un autentico progetto antropologico. Tale relazionalità chiede, pertanto, di essere garantita. Garante della relazionalità è proprio il diritto, quale forma di esperienza umana costitutivamente relazionale. Lo Stato dovrà operare per garantire la relazionalità multietnica, attraverso l’assunzione di un atteggiamento di imparzialità, distinguendo i valori elaborati dalle culture, e le pratiche sociali ad essi corrispondenti, in almeno tre categorie: quella dei valori che appaiono semplicemente tollerabili, quella dei valori che meritino di essere ritenuti rispettabili e quella, infine, dei valori che per la loro forza intrinseca debbano essere qualificati come condivisibili L’aspetto più arduo concerne l’integrazione, i suoi limiti e quindi la tolleranza verso le culture. Occorre, infatti, fissare i confini della tolleranza che dovrà essere sempre condizionata, argomentata, dinamica, credibile e dovrà, infine, possedere un carattere dialogico. ---------- The article proposes the ancient theme of the cohabitation between peoples, very actual nowadays, for the fact that we have to face new forms of conflict, not manageable with old conceptual parameters, that impose to reflect on how a multicultural society is possible. The roads for an intercultural and interreligious cohabitation are only three: the way of assimilation, the way of the marginalization and the way of the integration: first two have been abundantly experimented in different political- national contexts and they have shown for time all their limits, the third way is that which, very laboriously, many countries of the world of today are trying to test and it requires a meaningful intellectual engagement and good (politics and moral) will. An essential point that qualifies the model of the integration is the primacy of the person according to two lines: the person’s primacy on the State of which it is citizen and the person’s supremacy on community of which it is a member. The person is understood in his being subject in relationship, since it manifests the whole own potentialities giving itself to the other and not closing in itself. This is the authentic base of every project of peace, that possesses the character of an authentic anthropological project even before being a political project. Such relational nature, therefore, must be guaranteed. Guarantor of the relational nature is really the law, as form of human experience constitutively relational. The State must operate to guarantee the multiethnic relational nature, through the assumption of an attitude of impartiality, distinguishing the values elaborated from cultures and the social practices corresponding to them, in at least three categories: that of the values that appear simply tolerable, that of the values which deserves to be thought respectable and, finally, that of the values which must be qualified as shareable for their intrinsic strength. The most arduous aspect pertains to the integration, its limits and therefore tolerance toward cultures. Needs, in fact, fixing the confinements of tolerance that must be always conditioned, deduced, dynamics, believable and, finally, it must possess a dialogical character.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-139
Author(s):  
Pierre-Olivier Monteil

This study undertakes a reading of Etienne de La Boétie’s Discours de la servitude volontaire, endeavoring to bring to light the way it convergences with and diverges from the political thought of Paul Ricœur, around the central concept of the will. On the basis of the twin notions of “denaturation” and of “pathology,” a course unfolds which aims at helping establish the people, in comparison with the institution of the State, through a political process revitalised by friendship. But the two thinkers differ when it comes to the resources of the will. This is reflected in the notion of freedom, conceived as absolute in La Boetie, while Ricœur emphasizes its contingency, which leads him to thematize it in terms of capabilities.


1974 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter L. Barrows

Until recently, our best studies ofpoint of departure the systemicthe developinglevel of analysis—theareas tookna- as tional parties,1 the state institutions,2 the cosmopolitan central elites,3the overarching economic and communications networks4—but the particular assumptions and inevitable shortcomings of this approach led to a call for more attention to subsystem levels of analysis. By now it has become commonplace to note the need for studies of politics at the local level to gain a more intimate understanding of the way in which processes such as political development and political integration take place in the villages and small towns of the Third World's agrarian hinterland.


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 86-88
Author(s):  
Tom Ginsburg

Dan Svantesson has introduced an important proposal to reformulate the way we allocate jurisdiction in the international community. Rather than asking whether a proposed assertion of jurisdiction falls into one of the canonical principles identified in the Harvard Research Draft Convention on Jurisdiction with Respect to Crime of 1935, Svantesson proposes to subject claims of jurisdiction to three “core” principles: (1) whether there is a substantial connection between the matter and the State seeking to exercise jurisdiction; (2) whether the State seeking to exercise jurisdiction has a legitimate interest in the matter; and (3) whether the claim of jurisdiction is reasonable given the balance between the state’s interests and other interests that might be asserted. He sees the first two of these as being implicit in the Harvard Draft paradigm, and the third a helpful addition to resolve conflicts in an increasingly interdependent world.


Film Studies ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Marcus

Leni Riefenstahl was one of filmmakings most contentious directors. The power of her epic documentaries, Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938), have cemented her place in film history. More criticism has been written about Riefenstahl than any other director, except perhaps Hitchcock and Welles. Publicity surrounding the publication of an illustrated book marking her centenary reawakened debates about Riefenstahl‘s career in film and her involvement with the Third Reich. In this article, I focus on one of the key films which emerged from that relationship, Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens), which I discussed at length in my interview with Riefenstahl. Her recollections were sharp and I was intrigued by some of her answers, not for what new insight they offered, but for how they reaffirmed how she wished others to interpret her films and motivations. In particular, I was interested in the way she considered Triumph of the Will to be a realistic portrayal of the Nazi‘s 1934 Nuremberg Rally and the events surrounding it, and her role as a filmmaker in shaping that representation.


1989 ◽  
Vol 28 (04) ◽  
pp. 270-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Rienhoff

Abstract:The state of the art is summarized showing many efforts but only few results which can serve as demonstration examples for developing countries. Education in health informatics in developing countries is still mainly dealing with the type of health informatics known from the industrialized world. Educational tools or curricula geared to the matter of development are rarely to be found. Some WHO activities suggest that it is time for a collaboration network to derive tools and curricula within the next decade.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Rizka Refliarny ◽  
Herawan Sauni ◽  
Hamdani Ma'akir

This study raises the issue of agrarian reform draft under the reign of President Joko Widodo. Agrarian reform became a priority program in the RPJMN of 2015-2019. Based on this matter, the writer analyzes the concept of agrarian reform during the reign of Joko Widodo terms of BAL. The nature of the study was a normative research with statute approach, which was done in four ways, namely descriptive, comparative, evaluative and argumentative. The results showed that the agrarian reform draft during the reign of Joko Widodo is a concept of land stewardship and land reform. The economic system leads to a form of capitalism. It is necessary to conduct refinement of content and material of BAL implementation in order to achieve the justice and the welfare of the nation and the State. The agrarian reform program should be carried out in stages in order to obtain the desired results. It requires the will, ability and active involvement of all elements of the state.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document