Legitimation Deficit and Legitimation Crisis in East European Societies

In the following paper I use the term “legitimation” roughly in its Weberian understanding. A system of domination can be regarded as “legitimate” if at least one part of the population acknowledges it as exemplary and binding, while the other part, most often the majority, does not confront the existing social order with an image of an alternative one as, at least, equally exemplary and more desirable. In Weber’s view there are three major sources of legitimacy, namely, the legal order, charisma and tradition.