ABSTRACT
Sociologists have pointed out that any political power must be rooted in and justified by popular legitimacy. There are three principles of social obedience: an individual obeys leaders who are (1) established by social custom, (2) validated by reason, and (3) elevated by enthusiasm above any other. These correspond to three types of legitimacy: (a) traditional, (b) charismatic, and (c) legal (modern political leaders and their political systems rely on the assumption that a written constitution is the legal source of any exercise of political power).
