Political Legitimacy and the Evolution of Democracy
Political Legitimacy in Contractualism
Contractualism
Contractualism is a theory that explains the origin and the exercise of political power in the legal form of the contract. The origin of political obligation is in obedience to a power that was born from the individual’s own will. With the figure of the contract, the following is achieved:
- General will: A commitment of individual will to the will of all.
- A formula that guarantees equality of all individuals with political power.
- A harmonization of individual interests with the common or general interest.
- A new approach to civil liberty is the exercise of citizenship status.
- A rational legitimation of power (an explanation from the rational nature of human beings, not supernatural explanations).
Classical Contractualism
The figure of the contract is used to explain rational political power in order to get harmony between the private and public dimensions of the human route. The contract allowed them to find a way to explain the moral dimension of public law (legality).
Neocontractualism
Neocontractualism recovers the figure of the contract to explain the legitimacy of political power. It does so from a new political context where:
- The rational legitimacy of power is being replaced by a tearful one where rationalism is replaced by skepticism or relativism.
- Individualism weakened community awareness and lessened the need for a public reason.
- The media appear as an instrument of mediation between the citizen’s private life and the public life of peoples.
From the Rule of Law to the Welfare State
Rule of Law
The Rule of Law is a form of political organization in which a body of law replaces the absolute power of monarchs. A form of state begins to develop where the rule of law replaces that of men. It collects the will of the nation (national sovereignty). The Rule of Law is not only a state subject to the law, but one whose power and activity are controlled by a law that reflects the will of the people.
Liberal State of Law
The Liberal State of Law is the result of liberal revolutions that took place in Europe and America. It sought a political organization that would guarantee individual freedoms (of expression, opinion, demonstration, association) of the citizen against the state. Its features are:
- Rule of Law: It is the expression of the general will. Both the rulers and the ruled are subject to common law that would translate into a written text (constitution).
- Division of powers: Legislative, executive, judicial.
- Rights and fundamental freedoms: There are some fundamental rights (right to life and physical integrity, freedom of circulation, etc.) from which the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights shall be established.
Liberal Social State
For freedom to be real, the state must meet the basic needs of all citizens; it will be a social state. Social rights are expanded (to education, health, and culture). Its goal is to achieve equality in a just society, hence it is also called the state of social justice. While the liberal state refrains from intervening in society, the social state intervenes so that there is a fairer distribution of social goods. It modifies the liberal state candidate into an active social and distributive one.
Practical Theory of Democracy
Three Significant Aspects of Democracy
- Principle of legitimacy: Political power is not rooted in strength or the will of the gods, but in the people. The people are the holders of power through free elections. Democracy can be direct or participatory.
- A political system to solve the exercise of power. Democracy is the limitation and control of rulers.
- A political ideal. Democracy as it really is consistent with democracy as it should be.
Three Transformations
- In the city-state: Democracy is presented as a political system whose members are considered equal if collectively sovereign and with capacities, institutions, and resources to govern themselves (self-governments).
- The nation-state: Its function is to elect representatives (representative government).
- In the global society: It facilitates control of political power, broad democratic consciousness of citizens that has global dimensions.
Three Models
- Classical: Legal/constitutional model of democracy where representatives protect the people from the arbitrary and guarantee fundamental rights.
- Participatory: To elect representatives, more democracy is effective participation in all aspects of social life.
Concept of Citizenship in the Contemporary World
New information technologies are transforming the ways of understanding the bond of citizenship. This transformation has produced a new understanding of democracy (media democracy) and a new understanding of citizenship (global).
The Challenge of a Media Democracy
It is the transformation that the media produced in conventional theories of democracy. The media transform political communication and the political task itself. To solve any regulation, it will always have to count on free speech, free access to information, and democratic self-government of citizens.