The obedience to a government is not merely a legal phenomenon. It is also a political one. People obey a law more because of the fact that they feel it is good to obey it, as also because, they are convinced that the government issuing the laws is a legitimate one. In fact, no one would like to obey a government which one feels is not a legitimate one. The obedience to the government is more of a political phenomenon than a legal one. If one stands up to disobey the government, it is because one does not want to obey the government. If obedience is voluntary, so is the unwillingness to obey the laws.
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Generally, people obey the laws. They do so because they accept the government that rules them. They do so because they accept the system wherein the government operates. And if they like to disobey the government, they do so because they hesitate to accept both the government and the system as a whole.
Legitimacy of states and governments depend on how the people look at them and also at the social world around, and what they consider to be morally right. What they consider morally proper is the product of numerous factors which influence people. The total effect of all the influences make up what may be called the ‘legitimation process’.
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Legitimacy once evolved or grown is not a matter of all future; it is a process which goes on and on. The state goes on because the people want it to go on. The state, one must remember, goes on not because it has power. The overwhelming power does not last on its own. It has to have the acceptance and support of the people; it has to have its own strength which is much more than the physical force that it has. What it means is that the states have to have their legitimacy, i.e., the government rules over the people because it has the legitimate right to rule.