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Lesson PreviewLesson 8 of 10 in this unit

1.8 Political Legitimacy

Part of Political Systems, Regimes, and Governments in AP® Comparative Government & Politics. Read the opening section, then create a free account for the full interactive lesson, practice, and progress tracking.

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Lesson Overview

Legitimacy is the belief that political authority has a rightful claim to rule. It may rest on elections, law, tradition, religion, nationalism, ideology, performance, or combinations of these sources.

Compare how this topic appears across the six AP course countries and distinguish institutions from outcomes.

Quantitative lens: legitimacy=trustingrespondents/allrespondents∗100{legitimacy=trusting_respondents/all_respondents*100}.

In this unit

10 lessons

  1. 1.1The Practice of Political ScientistsPreview lesson
  2. 1.3Democracy vs. AuthoritarianismPreview lesson
  3. 1.3Democracy vs. AuthoritarianismOpen lesson
  4. 1.4DemocratizationPreview lesson
  5. 1.5Sources of Power and AuthorityPreview lesson
  6. 1.6Change in Power and AuthorityPreview lesson
  7. 1.7Federal and Unitary SystemsPreview lesson
  8. 1.8Political LegitimacyThis lesson
  9. 1.9Sustaining LegitimacyPreview lesson
  10. 1.10Political StabilityPreview lesson

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