legitimacywhere

Legitimacywhere is a theoretical concept used in political theory and governance studies to describe the locus or space in which political legitimacy is recognized, contested, or negotiated. The term combines legitimacy with "where" to emphasize that legitimacy is not a single attribute attached to a state or leader, but something that can reside in multiple spatial or social locations—for example within a national government, subnational authorities, supranational institutions, or digital communities.

Origin and usage: The term emerged in scholarly discussions in the 2010s–2020s as researchers sought to map how legitimacy is distributed across layers of authority and among diverse audiences. It is not widely standardized and is used to analyze situations where legitimacy depends on different groups of actors or different modalities of recognition.

Definition and scope: Legitimacywhere refers to the combination of recognized authority, normative justification, and accepted procedures within a given space. It includes consent of the governed, legality, effectiveness, legitimacy through tradition or practice, and international recognition. The concept allows plural or competing loci of legitimacy rather than a single source.

Applications: In federal or multi-ethnic states, legitimacywhere helps explain why multiple authorities claim legitimacy concurrently. In secessionist or autonomy movements, legitimacywhere distinguishes the recognizability of claims at regional, national, or international levels. In online governance and platform ecosystems, legitimacywhere can describe how communities confer authority through norms and reputation.

Criticism: Some scholars argue the concept is vague or relativistic, challenging measurement and cross-cultural comparability. Others warn it could obscure power dynamics by focusing on recognition rather than coercive capacity.

See also: political legitimacy, legitimacy, sovereignty, authority, social contract, governance, legitimacy deficit.