The word legitimacy is a word that can be used in many different situations that can be related to political, judicial, economic, social or people's daily life.
Legitimacy comes from the Latin term I will legitimize, what does it mean to enforce the law
In this sense, then, legitimacy is to transform something into legitimate, into something that complies with what is imposed by law and therefore is considered a good for the whole of society according to its specific parameters.
Ultimately, legitimacy is a condition that something holds and that implies being in accordance with current law. On the opposite side we find the illegitimate thing that is not presented in accordance with what the law dictates
The term legitimacy is taken mainly from the juridical and legal world in which it means that something, a situation, a circumstance, or a phenomenon, are correct and appropriate according to the parameters that the different systems of laws and norms establish for each case. Thus, the legitimacy of an act or a process becomes present when, to carry out such an act or process, the pre-established norms are followed. Examples of this type of legitimacy can be the signing of employment contracts, business contracts, international agreements properly established according to the laws of international law, etc.
Legitimacy can also be applied to political issues, especially when it comes to whether an official or ruler accesses his position legitimately. For this to be so, the individual or group of individuals in question must follow a number of procedures and rules whose ultimate goal is the proper organization of the political system in each region. In this way, a president who accesses government through agreed means is legitimate, such as the popular vote in the case of democracies, but whoever does so in an authoritarian and illegal way is not.
Legitimacy in politics
At present, legitimacy is a condition that implies acceptance by the community, if there were no such acceptance or consensus, there would be no legitimacy. So, this criterion assumes that dictatorships can exercise power and in effect govern, however, the legitimacy of that government is totally null because it does not precisely have the approval of the community. The political history of most of the countries that make up our planet shows us examples of this that we mentioned.
When a government has legitimacy, because for example it came to power through the institutional mechanisms in force and in accordance with the law, it will achieve consensus on the part of the citizenry and all the acts of government and decisions it makes will be considered legitimate and of course peace and social stability will be respected and reign.
Meanwhile, when this does not happen, when the government loses legitimacy due to some situation, governability will be in danger, because the citizenry will begin to ignore the authority of the government and then it will have to opt for rectification to get back on track or take a step forward. cost to regain legitimacy through a new management.
Or failing that, there is a third alternative, the other path that is usually taken in these cases is that of coercion, although sooner or later the citizenry will rebel and power in this way cannot be sustained. Dictatorships that came to power through a coup, in some moments in the past achieved some legitimation from the people in the beginning, however, over time they demonstrated their most cruel and authoritarian side and then, society he rebelled until he finally managed to get out.
Legitimacy at the civil level
Finally, the term legitimacy is also used to refer to social ties such as parenthood, marriage, etc. These links can be found in different circumstances governed by law and to be considered legitimate they must have certain types of elements that ensure their legality (for example, in the case of recognizing a legitimate child, the father must verify his direct blood tie; or in the case of a marriage, it must prove its recognition before the law to be considered legitimate).
