The Normative Element of Legitimacy
Brandon L. Bartels and Chris W. Bonneau, eds. 2015. Making Law and Courts Research Relevant. New York: Routledge.
20 Pages Posted: 10 Dec 2014 Last revised: 18 Dec 2014
Date Written: May 1, 2014
Abstract
The most successful and influential research on attitudes toward courts has equated legitimacy with institutional loyalty. While agreeing that this move has facilitated considerable progress in empirical research, I argue that it misses a crucial element of legitimacy and advocate renewed attention to that element -- the sense that legitimacy entails obligations on the part of people toward governing institutions that they recognize as legitimate.
Keywords: legitimacy, courts, judges, diffuse support, institutional loyalty, normative, obligations
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