The Three Types of Legitimate Rule

The Three Types of Legitimate Rule is a book written by Maximilian Weber, a German economist and sociologist. An English translation was made in 1958. Those ideas have been also reprinted as parts of his books Basic Concepts in Sociology and The Theory of Social and Economic Organization.

According to Weber, the beliefs in the legitimacy of a system of domination are not just philosophical matters. They contribute to the system stability and authority. All rulers develop some myth of their natural superiority, which is usually accepted by ruled under stable conditions, but may be questioned during a crisis. Weber saw only three principles of legitimation (which he called 'pure types', that have been used to justify the the right or rulers to rule:

• Legal domination - is based on a system of rules which is applied administratively and judicially in accordance with known principles to all members of the group. The persons who exercise the power are superiors appointed or elected by legal procedures. Superiors - officials - are also subject to rules that limit their powers, separate the private life from official duties and require written documentation.
• Traditional domination - is based on the belief in the legitimacy of an authority that 'has always existed'. The people in power usually enjoy it because they have inherited it. The officials consists either of personal retainers (in a patrimionial regime) or of personal loyal allies, like vassals or tributary lords (in a feudal regime). Their perogatives are usually similar to that of the master above them, just reduced in scale, and they are often selected based on inheritance.
• Charismatic domination - is based on charisma of the leader, who can prove that he posses the right to lead by the virtue of magical powers, revelations, heroism, etc. The person who obey him are disciples and followers. Leader's position is based on belief and charisma, not on tradition or legal rules. Officials are selected based on their personal devotion to the ruler and charisma.

Those 'pure types' exist only in some societies and are almost always found in a combination with other 'pure types' - for example, familial charisma (important in kingship and Indian caste sytem, but absent from legal domination) is a comination of charismatic and traditional elements, while institututional charisma (existing in all church organisations but absent from a priesthood that fails to develop such an organisation) is a mixture of charismatic and legal elements.

The types of domination tend to transform from one into another in a period of time, when the rulers fail to live up to the ruled expectations - for example after a death of charismatic leader his followers who are likely to lack charisma will try to institue a system based on tradition and/or law. On the other hand, such systems can be shaken by the appearance of a new charismatic leader, expecially in the times of an economic or military crisis.

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