Modern, consent-based theories of what makes a government's authority legitimate rather than merely effective: legitimacy itself, consent of the governed, popular sovereignty as the doctrine that ultimate political authority rests with the people, and the social contract as the founding theoretical device (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) explaining why individuals accept political authority at all. Belongs here: a theory or doctrine explaining the SOURCE of a government's rightful claim to rule, where that source is the consent or will of the governed. Does not belong here: a tradition- or religion-derived source of legitimate authority, grouped under Traditional and Religious Legitimacy Concepts.
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Era of Emergence All Legitimacy and Political Authority
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1. Leviathan (Hobbes book) (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLeviathan (Hobbes book), lead sectionQuote, Leviathan (Hobbes book), lead section
Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a work of social and political theory by the English empiricist philosopher and political theorist Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668).
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