3.Critically discuss the view that political regimes cannot have Essay

3.Critically discuss the view that political regimes cannot have legitimacy without democracy - Essay Example The role of democracy, in this context, is to legitimate what is legal and vice versa. Whether it is a representative democracy or direct democracy, the role of democratic processes is to bring a moral bearing to the legislatures. More broadly, democracy is the force of virtue through which a state can exercise its authority. The rest of this essay will elaborate various facets to the interrelation between legitimacy and democracy. â€Å"the question of the relationship between legitimacy and democracy depends on the relationship between support and democracy, a relationship which is contingent, not axiomatic...Legitimacy and democracy are related if members support an institution only to the extent that they view it as democratic: the relationship between legitimacy and democracy is therefore at the level of beliefs and of beliefs that the institution has to be democratic if it is to be supported.† (Blondel, Sinnott, & Svensson, 1998, p. 10) In liberal democracies, especially, legitimacy of the regime is of paramount importance. What is true for nations is also applicable to supranational entities. The European Union is a case in point, where most nations in the bloc purport to embrace the liberal-democratic constitutional framework. Even the EU constitution is an abstraction of this common theme uniting several nations in the bloc. In the case of the larger entity the EU, as it continues to expand, â€Å"the complex has intensified and has become more and more closely linked to the issue of legitimacy†. (Rosanvallon, 2011, p. 7) It is understood at the time of ratification of the EU constitution that, for the EU to be a democratic conglomeration, gaining legitimacy is an imperative. Equally, the European Parliament is another key institution for maintaining democratic processes within the EU. The Council of Ministers and the national parliaments are expected to play a complementary role in this regard. With thes e expectations of the European