ABSTRACT
One of the most controversial aspects of the legal and political sociology of Max Weber rests on the relationship established between the formal rationality of law and the type of legitimacy characteristic of modernity, the belief in the legality of domination. The classification of Weber in the camp of legal positivism, common to various authors, is often followed by a critique of an understanding of legitimacy based on formal legality as its sole criterion. According to Weber, natural law appears no longer able to ensure the foundation and legitimacy of the legal order. This chapter identifies the key features of legal-rational domination and tries to understand, through Weber's analysis, the limits of formal legal rationality as regards the legitimacy of the contemporary Western states. It discusses the possible presence of a decisionist conception of law in Weber's work and, where applicable, how it influences the issue of legitimacy.
