“Taiwan can be regarded as a sovereign state.” Why or why not?
1. The Underlying Likeness among the Concepts of Legitimacy, Sovereignty, and Authority.
Legitimacy:
The original meaning of legitimacy is the rightful king or queen was on the throne by reason of “legitimate” birth. Legitimacy now refers to an attitude in people’s minds – in some countries strong, in others weak – that the government’s rule is rightful (Roskin, 1974). Legitimacy itself is the lawful condition or quality of an act or person. When a whole range of behavior is legitimate, it may be called a legitimate order. The three kinds of legitimacy that determine the existence of sovereignty are rational legitimacy, traditional legitimacy, and charismatic legitimacy. Rational legitimacy is the accord of a people with all claims and acts that are clearly defined as to meaning and objective and that are governed by respect for legal regulations. Traditional legitimacy is accord with claims and acts of rulers because these rulers have "always" made these claims and committed these acts. For example, monarchy is a source of traditional legitimacy. Charismatic legitimacy is rarely found in a pure form. "Charisma" distinguishes those acts that are deemed to be right because possessed of "the touch of grace"; certain persons and events are supposed to be miraculous and possessed of a special mission in, or significance to, society. Legitimacy is achieved by a government in several ways. Mostly government tries to achieve legitimacy by providing security so that people feel reasonable safe. If there is no security, there is no legitimacy. Legitimacy associated with security is rule of law. The second way of achieving legitimacy is governing well in which government tries to ensure economic growth and job so that people can feed their families. The third way is contributing the structure of government to its legitimacy so that people feel they are fairly represented and have a say in selection of their officials. The fourth ways of achieving legitimacy
Legitimacy:
The original meaning of legitimacy is the rightful king or queen was on the throne by reason of “legitimate” birth. Legitimacy now refers to an attitude in people’s minds – in some countries strong, in others weak – that the government’s rule is rightful (Roskin, 1974). Legitimacy itself is the lawful condition or quality of an act or person. When a whole range of behavior is legitimate, it may be called a legitimate order. The three kinds of legitimacy that determine the existence of sovereignty are rational legitimacy, traditional legitimacy, and charismatic legitimacy. Rational legitimacy is the accord of a people with all claims and acts that are clearly defined as to meaning and objective and that are governed by respect for legal regulations. Traditional legitimacy is accord with claims and acts of rulers because these rulers have "always" made these claims and committed these acts. For example, monarchy is a source of traditional legitimacy. Charismatic legitimacy is rarely found in a pure form. "Charisma" distinguishes those acts that are deemed to be right because possessed of "the touch of grace"; certain persons and events are supposed to be miraculous and possessed of a special mission in, or significance to, society. Legitimacy is achieved by a government in several ways. Mostly government tries to achieve legitimacy by providing security so that people feel reasonable safe. If there is no security, there is no legitimacy. Legitimacy associated with security is rule of law. The second way of achieving legitimacy is governing well in which government tries to ensure economic growth and job so that people can feed their families. The third way is contributing the structure of government to its legitimacy so that people feel they are fairly represented and have a say in selection of their officials. The fourth ways of achieving legitimacy
References: O’ Nell, P. H., Fields, K. & Share, D.(2006). Case in Comparative Politics (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company. Inc. The Open University of Hong Kong (2010), Introduction to Political Science (unit – 1). Hong Kong, China: The Open University of Hong Kong. Roskin, M. G., Cord, R. L., Medeiros, J. A. & Jones, W. S. (2008), Political Science: An Introduction (10th ed.). Upp