Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 07:59:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: HAB: Formalism


On Wed, 7 Oct 1998, ken wrote (in part): 

> ... the *question* of legitimacy only exists in a democratic
> atmosphere.  In antiquity the ruler didn't struggle for
> legitimacy - it was simply present in their 'being the ruler'
> (the spell-binding force of the sacred).  In instances of
> dictatorships the dictator doesn't require legitimacy - only
> obedience.  Legitimacy is a modern concept.  For instance -
> one doesn't usually talk about the 'legitimacy' of Alexander
> the Great.  If you opposed him, you were killed.  There is no
> question of legitimacy here.  His rule is by force alone. 

It is a common misperception that (many forms of) rulers rule
without legitimacy.  There is always a complex web of
interdependency between the ruler and the ruled.  Caesar had his
Brutus.  Feudal kings ruled by / through the continued
willingness of the barons to support them.  (Witness the strife
that led up to the Magna Carta.)  I don't want to exaggerate
this;  once in power, rulers certainly have a lot of non-
legitimate advantages in maintaining power.  Rule without
legitimacy might be possible, but it is terribly costly.  Much
better to have the serfs agree to their own subordination. 

> ... democratic laws are backed by violence.  Violence is
> inherent in the law (if there isn't a sanction why the law?).

Laws express publicly the standards to which we agree to adhere. 
They accomplish this regardless of violence.  Of course it is
useful to have some form of force backing them up.  This is true
even if people are naturally law-abiding.  As Rawls puts it, we
all benefit from some assurance that there is some institutional
support for our obedience.  (He has a better wording of this,
but I'm not at the office now.)  Certainly committed anarchists
can reject any restriction on their behavior, so that laws only
bind them through their associated use of force, but I don't
think this is a tenable position.  (And involves a whole other
set of issues.) 

Best regards to all,

Steve, whose home computer can once again -- at last! -- access
the internet

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| Stephen Chilton, Associate Professor, Dept of Pol Science |
|    Univ of Minnesota-Duluth / Duluth, MN 55812-2496 / USA |
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|  committed suicide."                                      |
|      - Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in _Fellowship_,        |
|          vol. 64, nos.7-8, July/August 1998, p.28         |
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