Seeking Legitimacy

A comparative study based on extensive fieldwork, and an original database of gender-based reforms in the Middle East and North Africa, Aili Mari Tripp analyzes why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia adopted more extensive women's rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts.

Aili Mari Tripp explains why autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria embraced more extensive legal reforms of women's rights than their Middle Eastern counterparts. The study challenges existing accounts that rely primarily on religiosity to explain the adoption of women's rights in Muslim-majority countries. Based on extensive fieldwork in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and an original database of gender-based reforms in the Middle East and North Africa, this accessible study analyzes how women's rights are used both instrumentally and symbolically to advance the political goals of authoritarian regimes as leverage in attempts to side-line religious extremists. It shows how Islamist political parties have been forced to dramatically change their positions on women's rights to ensure political survival. In an original contribution to the study of women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa, Tripp reveals how women's rights movements have capitalized on moments of political turmoil to defend and advance their cause.

Esteemed scholar Richard Falk draws on his vast experience as a public intellectual and special rapporteur for the United Nations to examine the ethics and politics of humanitarian intervention in the 21st Century. As well as analysing the theoretical and conceptual basis of the responsibility to protect, the book also contains a number of case studies looking at Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Libya. The final section explores when humanitarian intervention can succeed and the changing nature of international political legitimacy in countries such as India, Tibet, South Africa and Palestine.

The discipline of public administration draws predominantly from political and organizational theory, but also from other social and behavioral sciences, philosophy, and even theology. This diversity results in conflicting prescriptions for the "proper" administrative role. So, how are those new to public administration to know which ideas are "legitimate"? Rather than accepting conventional arguments for administrative legitimacy through delegated constitutional authority or expertise, Logics of Legitimacy: Three Traditions of Public Administration Praxis does not assume that any one approach to professionalism is accepted by all scholars, practitioners, citizens, or elected representatives. Instead, it offers a framework for public administration theory and practice that fully includes the citizen as a political actor alongside elected representatives and administrators. This framework: Considers both direct and representative forms of democracy Examines concepts from both political and organizational theory, addressing many of the key questions in public administration Examines past and present approaches to administration Presents a conceptual lens for understanding public administration theory and explaining different administrative roles and practices The framework for public administration theory and practice is presented in three traditions of main prescriptions for practice: Constitutional (the bureaucrat), Discretionary (the entrepreneur), and Collaborative (the steward). This book is appropriate for use in graduate-level courses that explore the philosophical, historical, and intellectual foundations of public administration. Upon qualified course adoption, instructors will gain access to a course outline and corresponding lecture slides.

A radical, interdisciplinary reworking of legitimation, using ethnographic insights to explore everyday non-state authority in Tanzania.

This book sheds new light on the continuing debate within political thought as to what constitutes power, and what distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate power. It does so by considering the experience of Russia, a polity where experiences of the legitimacy of power and the collapse of power offer a contrast to Western experiences on which most political theory, formulated in the West, is based. The book considers power in a range of contexts - philosophy and discourse; the rule of law and its importance for economic development; the use of culture and religion as means to legitimate power; and liberalism and the reasons for its weakness in Russia. The book concludes by arguing that the Russian experience provides a useful lens through which ideas of power and legitimacy can be re-evaluated and re-interpreted, and through which the idea of "the West" as the ideal model can be questioned.

This book analyses the issue of child soldiers in order to understand how armed groups engage with international organizations to gain international legitimacy. The work examines why some armed groups ‘follow the rules’ of international humanitarian law and others do not. It argues that armed groups in conflicts around the world engage with international organizations in order to gain international legitimacy and to show they are following the laws of war. By examining the issue of child soldiers in contemporary armed conflict, the volume establishes a typology of which groups will engage with international actors and follow the laws of war – and which will not. The main aim of the book is to understand the rationality of even the most violent of actors, and to understand when and how armed groups can be encouraged to follow the laws of war. The work draws from extensive primary research conducted among armed groups in Syria and Myanmar, including al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the many small ethnic insurgent groups of Myanmar. This book will be of much interest to students of war and conflict studies, security studies, international humanitarian law, and International Relations.

How did the 1990s and early 21st century impact the evolution of the college presidency? The legitimacy and performance of higher education were called into question during this period, and respect for some of its leaders declined. An economic downturn and the concomitant change of student enrollment patterns have required presidents to lead in compromised conditions. The new emphasis on financial management and fund raising has opened the job of academic president to those with nontraditional backgrounds. These new presidents must gain legitimacy differently from those of more traditional backgrounds, who are struggling with their own legitimacy challenges. In order to understand legitimacy, Bornstein has spplied theory from the social sciences and higher education literature, proposing five factors that influence presidential legitimacy: Individual, Institutional, Environmental, Technical and Moral. She also proposes six threats to legitimacy: Lack of Cultural Fit, Management Incompetence, Misconduct, Erosion of Social Capital, Inattentiveness, and Gradiosity. In light of these threats, she suggests strategies for gaining and maintaining legitimacy. This book focuses on the impetus for leading change. Bornstein draws on numberouns sources for a theoretical perspective on the factors associated witht he president's role in creating legitimate change. She proposes a construct of four factors to implement legitimate change: Presidential Leadership, Governance, Social Capital, and Fund Raising. The concepts of transformational and transactional leadership are examined for their ability to facilitatle change. Bornstein finds their effectiveness limited and proposes "transformative leadership", a contextual approach that fits between transformational and transactional leadership in the conceptual continuum. Since presidents are often recruited on the basis of their academic experience, their legitimacy depends on securing resources to strengthen or transform their institution; fund raising is essential. Fina

Political Legitimacy: Realism in Political Theory and Sociology explores the concept of political legitimacy, the nature of the normative foundation of politics and the state. With particular attention to the broad theoretical approach of political realism within political theory and political sociology, it examines the work of figures including Bernard Williams, Raymond Geuss, John Grey, Max Weber, and Niklas Luhmann, among others. Contending that in the face of the waning influence of political idealism, the insights of political realism constitute a promising way forward, the author also advances the view that realist political theory would benefit from sociological insights, particularly on the nature of the state. As such, Political Legitimacy will appeal to scholars and students of social and political theory, political sociology, and political philosophy.

Following the 25th January revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood emerged as the most organised and successful political force in Egypt as they cashed in on decades of grassroots mobilisation and growth. Through dominance in syndicates and unions, the provision of social services and participation in elections, this the Brotherhood steadily expanded under Mubarak. Hesham Al-Awadi's lucid and original argument frames this period as one of struggle over legitimacy between the regime and this then banned organisation, charting a cycle of accommodation and coercion. The Brotherhood failed to secure the recognition of the state, but gained an informal legitimacy as it occupied the spaces opened up by Mubarak in an early attempt to shore up the credibility of his regime. This social legitimacy became a threat to the regime, haunted by the regional rise of Islamists and a failure to legitimate its leadership, and ushered in an era of coercion. Through these complex dynamics of the conflict and control, and drawing on interviews with key figures such as Abdul Mun'em Abu Al-Futuh, Esam Al-Aryan and Mustafa Al-Fiqi, Al-Awadi sheds light on the Mubarak era and the Muslim Brotherhood that have risen out of it.