Legitimacy The Foundations Of Government

"This thesis is primarily an introduction to the concept and function of narrative political legitimacy within democracies. Narrative legitimacy, the theory that legitimacy is determined by a people's belief in stories which provide authority, has been explored in other disciplines, particularly sociology, but has yet to be adopted by theorists of Political Science. In fact, there is ample evidence to suggest that such a theory would be consistent with political writings from across the Modern Age. To demonstrate this, five diverse intellectual figures and some of their most celebrated work are analyzed to provide context for a narrative legitimacy. This context is then used to frame a discussion of how narrative legitimacy may be applied to the study of specific nations and governments. Finally, an empirical study is conducted to determine if narrative constructs like "trust" or "confidence" can impact participation in a democratic government. The results show that though these narrative concepts indicate as to the possibility of strong relationship, it cannot be empirically proven without further study."