ABSTRACT
The concept of legitimacy has been explored by many different theorists, and whereas the thrust of their analyses may differ, they all tend to agree that, in the final analysis, only uncoerced acceptance by the citizens of the state makes a government legitimate. According to David Easton what differentiates political interactions from all other kinds of social interactions is that they are predominantly oriented toward the authoritative allocation of values for society. Similarly, Max Weber, identifies three types of legitimacy: the traditional, the charismatic and the legal-rational. In the first and second types, obligations and loyalty are to a person, the traditional chieftan or the heroic or messianic leader; in the third type, obligation is to the legally established impersonal network of institutions. A more recent example of an Arab leader who used foreign policy to broaden his mass support, until he over-reached himself, is President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
