Political Variables and State Legitimacy

Abstract

State legitimacy is a measure of citizen’s support for their institutions. Legitimacy is also a source of sustainable competitive advantage that protects states by making them less vulnerable to social, economic, and political turbulence. The level of support varies as a function of political variables such as national identity, political interest, representativeness of political elites, and political ideology. Our data was derived from the 2014 European Social Survey (ESS) on France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. Based on a sample of 9,151 citizens, the results show that political representativeness and national identity are the greatest influencers of state legitimacy. Political variables also tend to have similar effects on legitimacy across different states.