Topic: Legitimacy of Government during Popular Uprising
Country: Gabon
Delegate Name: Kate Kelley
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Gabon position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Governmental legitimacy is not defined by the type of government in power – in Africa and across the globe, a range of democratic and autocratic governments maintain peace, stability, and security in the nations they rule. This spectrum of autocracy exists not only in leaders, but in institutions. Strong institutions promote stability in government and allow for more successful regime change. Furthermore, strong institutions act as a balance against slides back into tyranny – once an institution has power, it becomes more difficult for an autocrat to extricate that authority again.
So rather than basing definitions of legitimacy on government type, Gabon wishes to focus on the effectiveness, stability, malleability, and legal rectitude of governments. Effectiveness is a term that must be carefully defined for economic, military, and political usage – an “effective” government is one that ensures economic diversity and growth, while avoiding damaging speculations and fluctuations, protects its citizens and its borders, and has a system for political democratization and succession. Obviously, all governments exist somewhere within a spectrum of effectiveness – it is up to the Legal Committee to define effectiveness more explicitly and to establish a minimum criteria for a government to be considered effective.
Similarly, the Legal Committee must characterize and define a spectrum and minimum level of stability, meaning that governments experiencing a certain level of unrest, involved in acts of aggression, or complaint in the conduct of genocide or crimes against humanity lose legitimacy and clout in the international community.
Legal rectitude is another important concept of legitimate government that the committee must define. Co-operation with international legal bodies like the ICC and ICJ, and internal laws that correlate with international standards will be the main criteria for determining a government’s legal competency and legitimacy.
Any definition of legitimacy created by the Legal Committee must be universally applicable, and must be helpful for furthering discussion in the international community. Overly specific or restrictive definitions (for example, defining democracy as the only legitimate form of government) will be rejected as ignorant of political realities and complexities. However, very generic characterizations of legitimacy will also be unhelpful, by failing to establish norms that can guide international policy and behavior.
