Legitimacy may be described in terms of belief or faith in an institution based on tradition, regard for one or more persons, and / or the associated legality. It can be considered as:
… some benchmark of acceptability or justification of political power or authority and — possibly — obligation. (Peter, F. 2017)
Legitimacy is essential then to any application of technology with social implications. In the context of Web 3, it has been described as the most important scarce resource:
Legitimacy is a pattern of higher-order acceptance. An outcome in some social context is legitimate if the people in that social context broadly accept and play their part in enacting that outcome, and each individual person does so because they expect everyone else to do the same. (Buterin, V. 2021)
LINKS
- Peter, F. (2017). Political Legitimacy. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Buterin, V. (2021). The Most Important Scarce Resource is Legitimacy.