Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 69, 2018

Political Philosophy

Good Governance: Another Kind of Legitimacy?

There are two resources for the legitimacy of a government: agreement and good governance. People’s agreement is eminent via democracy and regular elections. In this sense, agreement is a procedural legitimacy. While good governance is reflected by a government’s execution of its responsibility and favorable performances. In this sense, good governance is a substantial legitimacy. Agreement and good governance are two consisting parts of legitimacy: agreement as procedural legitimacy originates from democracy and governance as substantial legitimacy originates from exceptional execution of a government’s responsibilities. A government is fully legitimate only when it is agreed by the people and meets the requirement of good governance in the same time.