ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a systematic account of how legitimation messages function in the service of authoritarian power. In authoritarian public spheres, ideologies limit political discussion and restrict the ability for citizens to imagine alternative political futures by delimiting political discourse so that it assumes the regime's continued existence. It discusses the definitional issues associated with the term 'ideology' and reviews the ways in which it is understood in contemporary political science. The chapter presents each of the six elements of legitimating messages and discusses the theory that underpins them. It offers a framework for evaluating and comparing the content of legitimating messages and their contribution to the persistence of authoritarianism. To maintain power, the legitimacy of an authoritarian regime must be cultivated because without it the political opportunity structure for would-be challengers is increased. An authoritarian ideology, regardless of how thoroughly it has been made to permeate society, cannot ignore or conceal all problems that arise.
