Problem legitimnosti vlasti
The Problem of Legitimacy of Government

Summary/Abstract: The concept of legitimacy of political authority has a very long history in the European political thinking. It has attracted attention specially in the periods of political crises. Today, the decline of really existing socialism once again has put the problem of legitimacy in the focus of theoretical discussion. The author examines the problem of legitimacy from three aspects. First he discusses the metamorphoses of the concept of legitimacy in the history of European political philosophy. Then he analyses the preconditions and the structure of the universalislic and formalized legitimation procedures in the modern representative democracy. At the end he argues that the neglect of the legitimacy problem in the system of really existing socialism has caused its present crisis. This crisis can be solved only by re-establishing the fundamental legitimation institutions and procedures of modem liberal democracy.

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