Legitimating Authoritarian Rule: National and International Dimensions

Abstract

For a couple of years, research on authoritarianism has been moving away from the periphery toward the mainstream of political science. The “Third Wave of Democratization” appears to have subsided and the attempts at promoting international democracy are increasingly being regarded as unsuccessful in view of perceived trends of authoritarian resilience. In this context of a perceived shift toward a “post-democraticzation” era, students of political science have started to concern themselves with a question which was previously mostly considered to be an oxymoron: the question of the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, which will be the focus of this panel. Western legitimacy theories have mostly focused on the nation-state and the domestic aspects of political legitimacy. This is true of political philosophy theories, which approach legitimacy from a normative perspective, as well as of social science theories, which, in line with Max Weber’s understanding of legitimacy, do so from an empirical perspective. However, with the acceleration of globalization, authoritarian regimes not only claim legitimacy domestically, but also hold increased scope for the legitimation of their rule in the international context. Starting from this central assumption, the panel will bring together case studies from Middle Eastern, Asian, African and (hopefully) Latin-American countries which examine the search for legitimacy of authoritarian regimes at the intersection between the domestic and the international. Single case and small-N studies with an empirical focus are highly welcome, as are theoretical reflections about changing concepts of legitimacy at the national, regional and international level. Interesting aspects of discussion may also include related roles of multilateral institutions (with their own quests for legitimacy), universalized liberal disourse, democracy promotion and foreign aid, foreign trade and performance in the world economy, but also of legitimacy sources such as ideology, religion, and mass media discourse.

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