Both watchful and aware of the urgent need to respond to the challenges posed by the growing ineffectiveness of States and the peaceful and harmonious evolution of societies, since 2007 the Institute for Research and Debate on Governance (IRG) has focused its activities on the question of legitimacy; in other words, on the basis of support for political power.

Based on the results of university research, expert investigations and practices, we simultaneously undertook studies in the field and created interactive spaces for dialogue and proposals on this key aspect. In the process, a particular methodology took shape, feeding on the experiences in the field. It matured over the years and was enriched by the diversity of both the participants and the different contexts. Together with its partners, the IRG was able to offer a reflection focused on action and articulated around shared cross-cutting issues. This methodology helps to answer two questions: what is legitimacy and what are its expressions? How can we exert pressure on the State in order to achieve legitimate public governance?

These two questions form the respective core themes of the two books on the subject of this “methodology of legitimacy.” The first volume, which you already have in your hands, seeks to provide an “inventory” of the state of affairs. Whether experts, members of an institution, actors in civil society or those in the for-profit private sector, it is essential to have a better understanding of the basis of the legitimacy of the State: a diversity of interacting sources. The three most important issues that stand out in this book and characterise its three parts aim to provide a map of legitimacy in practice. To that end we propose a series of descriptive articles to facilitate the comprehension and analysis of the processes of legitimisation of political power, adapted to each context and bearing in mind the variety of conceptions of power.

The second volume, now in preparation, will fall within a perspective of public action. Amidst the interactions between the different sources of legitimacy, it will attempt to identify the principles of action and the processes to be undertaken in order to foster a legitimisation of the State and of public governance. It will seek to bridge the divide between practice and theory, between questions and proposals. These two books reflect our desire to open up to debate and action a profound conviction: legitimacy constitutes a vehicle for restructuring public governance.