Legitimacy

Definition

Legitimacy asks whether an institution is morally entitled to exercise authority, not merely whether it can secure compliance or point to valid procedures inside its own system.

Also used here as: rightful authority, moral authority.

Why it matters

A government or platform can be powerful, lawful, popular, or administratively effective while still failing tests of rights, equality, contestability, public justification, epistemic freedom, or accountability.

Relationships

Source basis

This public definition is a reviewed synthesis derived from:

• The Legitimacy of Rebellion: When Political Authority Loses Its Moral Claim to Obedience

The source basis identifies where the concept came from; it does not imply affiliation or endorsement by an external source.