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Legitimacy is an essential conceptin politics. But what is it? This book seeks to answer this question throughadopting Weber's sociological approach to legitimacy. Weber argues that weshould not only understand legitimacy from the perspective of the politicalorder, but that we should also look at its subjective meaning. If this approachseems to have fallen into discredit since Weber formulated it almost a centuryago, Netelenbos argues that we need to bring back the subjective into politicalsociology and theory.
Political Legitimacy beyondWeber argues that contemporary politics inlate-modern society cannot merely be understood in terms of legitimatedomination or formal bureaucratic organisation. Politics is also aboutstrategic conflict, coordination and argumentation. Based upon thesedifferent conceptualisations of politics andby critically evaluating some of the most leading sociologies, Netelenbospresents four analytical perspectives of political legitimacy. Providingcrucial insights into the multiple dimensions of political legitimacy, thiswill be an essential tool for both empirical and normative research.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Politics as Domination.- 3. Politics as Conflict.- 4.Politics as Coordination.- 5. Politics as Argumentation.- 6. Conclusion
About the author
Benno Netelenbos is a lecturer
at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam,
Netherlands.
Summary
Legitimacy is an essential concept
in politics. But what is it? This book seeks to answer this question through
adopting Weber’s sociological approach to legitimacy. Weber argues that we
should not only understand legitimacy from the perspective of the political
order, but that we should also look at its subjective meaning. If this approach
seems to have fallen into discredit since Weber formulated it almost a century
ago, Netelenbos argues that we need to bring back the subjective into political
sociology and theory.
Political Legitimacy beyond
Weber argues that contemporary politics in
late-modern society cannot merely be understood in terms of legitimate
domination or formal bureaucratic organisation. Politics is also about
strategic conflict, coordination and argumentation. Based upon these
different conceptualisations of politics and
by critically evaluating some of the most leading sociologies, Netelenbos
presents four analytical perspectives of political legitimacy. Providing
crucial insights into the multiple dimensions of political legitimacy, this
will be an essential tool for both empirical and normative research.
