Legitimacy, Authority, and Political Obligation

Abstract

In traditional works in the history of political theory, the concepts of legitimacy and authority are closely bound. Legitimacy refers to certain qualities a government must possess in order to be morally acceptable, and authority to the fact that a government’s citizens have moral requirements to obey its laws.¹ The two notions come together in the contention that governments are able to command allegiance only as long as they remain acceptable, while allegiance is due to even a legitimate government only if its citizens have obligations to obey it.