The War Against Authority: From the Crisis of Legitimacy to a New Social Contract.

AuthorFoti, Suzanne

For many nations, the end of the Cold War marked a shift from external conflict to a crisis from within: a crisis for legitimacy. The attempt to create a political system in which the ruler and the rebel can coexist in peace is not always successful. In some cases, dissent may lead to successful self-determination claims, such as the nation of Eritrea, separated from neighboring Ethiopia by a United Nations-monitored referendum in 1993. Modern political thought is the basis of the social contract theory whereby the population enters into an explicit agreement that the majority decision is binding upon all members of the society. While at one time the theory of the social contract was a valid and useful basis of state legitimization, it is clear that the rise in domestic conflict raises serious questions as to the sustainability of the social contract as a method of state legitimization.

Discussions about legitimacy and the social contract are nothing new. Michel Foucault looked at the marginalized members of society and examined how they find political spaces of participation. Other authors, such as Francis Fukuyama and Seymour Lipsett, also examine legitimacy within the context of the aging social contract. Nicholas N. Kittrie's The War Against Authority: From the Crisis of Legitimacy to a New Social Contract differs from previous discussions by its multidisciplinary approach, which includes previous analysis in the fields of law, political science, sociology, criminology and political psychology, in a discussion of the dialectic between ruler and rebel in the framework of the social contract. Kittrie concludes that civil strife, including ethnic conflicts, revolutions, terrorism and political protest is linked not only to the abuse of power by rulers, but also acts as an agent that delegitimizes the basis of the relationship: the social contract. Most authors on these subjects choose one approach to a single question; Kittrie simultaneously examines a diverse group of questions. While such an approach may be refreshing and conductive to new thought, as we see in Kittrie's text, this approach can be problematic if not used with caution and foresight. When the questions asked are as numerous as the methods of inquiry used, the end product leaves the reader unable to fully assess the theoretical linkages the author is trying to make. Although Kittrie does make some very provocative points in his prologue and epilogue, the interceding...

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