Legitimation and legitimacy in Russia revisited

Leslie Holmes

pp. 101-126

in: Stephen Fortescue (ed), Russian politics from Lenin to Putin, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Abstract

The 1982 volume edited by T.H. Rigby and Ferenc Fehér, Political Legitimation in Communist States, was a seminal work.¹ Not only did it open up a whole new dimension of Communist politics, but it also introduced the concept of goal-rational legitimation to theories of legitimacy.² In doing so, it alerted us to the fact that the classic Weberian three-fold approach to legitimacy was in serious need of an update and expansion, particularly if it was to apply to Communist systems.³

Cited authors

Fehér Ferenc