ABSTRACT
This abundance of alternatives announces, from the very beginning, that we DUHGHDOLQJZLWKDSUREOHPDWLF¿HOG²QRWRQO\IRU WKHPRVW LPSRUWDQWDVSHFW LQ this matter, the social and political practices, but also for the way in which social sciences have to come to terms with the analysis, critique and-eventuallydefense of some normative preferences. Legitimacy is certainly a political and DQRUPDWLYHPDWWHUQRQHWKHOHVVLWKDVDOVREHHQDSULYLOHJHGEDWWOH¿HOGLQVRFLDO thought alongside modernity. Sociology, political philosophy, anthropology, SROLWLFDO VFLHQFH DQG HFRQRPLFVKDYH FRQVWDQWO\ UHÀHFWHGRQ WKH FRQGLWLRQVRI legitimacy in the modern world and confronted their approaches with each other DQGZLWKLQHYHU\GLVFLSOLQDU\¿HOG7KLVERRNEHORQJVWRWKLVWUDGLWLRQ,WDLPVWR reconsider legitimacy in the face of the new challenges of world society-that is, a society in which structural complexity, plural ethical convictions, and pragmatic political actions do not have restricted impact on the local areas and interactional contexts in which they take place anymore, but frequently have regional and even global repercussions.
