Legitimacy Crisis

In a political system with widespread features of governance, a legitimacy crisis occurs if there is a loss of faith in the way governance processes operate. Some actions of the state may not be perceived as justified, and if such lack of faith becomes widespread, the whole system of government may lose its credibility in the population.

Under traditional liberal democracy, a crisis of legitimacy typically occurs because the holders of public office are seen as not following their election program, or breaking rules of democratic procedure, or showing indications of corruption. They are then perceived as serving themselves for purposes of power or personal material benefits rather than serving the public purpose. Under governance, the same may occur, but furthermore, loss of legitimacy might happen as a consequence of establishing nodes or points of decision that are not squarely located within the formal, democratic decision-making system. When powers are decentralized, contracted out, or deliberated in detail with third parties, some citizens may perceive the ways the political system makes its decisions as illegitimate because the rightfully elected politicians and their appointed bureaucracies are no longer appreciated as ruling in a sovereign capacity.

One example could be public-private partnerships that through steering groups and similar forums create influence channels for people associated with private firms, often in collaboration with local politicians and even more with staff from local public administration. Another example could be influence channels created after a process of decentralizing powers from a local government council to service institutions, furnished with a board of directors elected among the users. A third example might be decisions made by a firm to which certain public services have been contracted out, particularly if citizens perceive it as cutting back on the quality of those services. In these cases, the citizen who is neither involved in governing a partnership nor a user of schools, nor in a position to complain about the quality of outsourced services, may perceive a loss of possibilities for influence in matters that earlier were vested with some branch of public administration and the politicians who reside over that administration. As a voter, the citizen may exert some influence at elections, and he or she may express opinions in the media or become a member of a political party. These are the traditional and legitimate channels. Channels established by governance may be perceived by many voters as a weakening of their powers.

Across the world, there is a call for more citizen involvement in democratic governance. Paradoxically, this may also lead to a crisis of legitimacy insofar as the traditional democrats see governance as illegitimate. A tension will then arise between those who are active in governance and those who mainly act as traditional voters. Some call such a process a dispute between citizens on the one hand and stakeholders and users on the other hand.