ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies different dimensions and mechanisms of legitimation. As we argue, the principle of equality is at the heart of each. We foreground three different ways in which that ideal of equality has been approximated in national contexts of the West: through the consolidation of national identities to determine who was considered to belong to the political community of equals in the first place; through institutional reform to deconcentrate power, enable free speech and press, and protect minorities and women; and, finally, through indifference. We contend that indifference is undertheorized in the social sciences, but can help us understand the stability of political regimes. We argue that indifference can be attained through arbitrage and racist exploitation as much as through redistribution.
