IB DP Global Politics – Core topic – Legitimacy in global politics Revision Notes

For full explanations and worked examples, read the study guide first. These notes are for the final weeks before the exam.

They cover the core prescribed topic Legitimacy in global politics for IB Diploma Programme Global Politics. They follow the IB Diploma Programme Global politics guide (first assessment 2026, published February 2024), the course examined from the May 2026 session onwards. The topic is common to SL and HL and is examined mainly through Paper 1, with links into Paper 2 section B. Practise with the practice questions, and track coverage with the printable checklist and the course hub.

The four items of prescribed content

1. Sources of state legitimacy, including government legitimacy.
2. Challenges to state and government legitimacy.
3. Sources of legitimacy of non-state actors.
4. Legitimation processes and loss of legitimacy of political actors.

Key definitions

Term	Meaning to use in answers
Legitimacy	Broad acceptance of an actor or action as proper by a population; the rationale for governance
State legitimacy	Acceptance of the state itself: its right to exist and rule a territory
Government legitimacy	Acceptance of those in office and of how they gained and use power
Sovereignty	A state’s independence and control over its territory
Legitimation	The process of gaining or strengthening legitimacy
Delegitimation	Action by others that reduces an actor’s legitimacy
Stakeholder	Anyone affected by an issue, even without the means to act

Sources of state and government legitimacy

The guide lists these fifteen. The four groups are a memory aid, not an IB classification.

Group	Sources	Quick test
Process	free and fair elections; representation; consent of governed people; transparency	How did power arrive, and is it open?
Performance	government performance; citizen welfare; order and stability; economic, political and social development; sustained development; quality of governance	Does it deliver?
Identity	history; ideology; national identity	Does it fit a shared story?
Recognition	leadership recognition; international recognition	Do others accept it?

Remember the guide’s framing: democracy or constitutionalism is the most widely accepted modern form of state legitimacy, but hereditary or traditional leadership can also be a source where that is the norm.

Challenges to legitimacy

Split every challenge by origin.

From within the state	From external stakeholders
Political, economic and social instability	Non-recognition of a government or state
Inability to govern effectively	Sanctions on a state or its officials
Inability to ensure citizens’ well-being	Suspension or exclusion from regional bodies
Excessive use of force and threats	Criticism or resolutions from UN bodies
Violence, oppression, human-rights violations	Pressure from NGOs and foreign publics

The left column comes from the guide’s areas to consider. The right column lists common forms of external challenge.

Non-state actors: the four areas

Area	Question to ask	Typical evidence
Representation	Whose interests does it represent, and how well?	Membership, leadership selection, who funds it
Interaction	How does it relate to states and other non-state actors?	Access to UN forums, partnerships, conflict with governments
Ability	What means does it have to exert influence?	Money, expertise, mobilisation, armed force, media reach
Efficacy	How far does it achieve its goals?	Outcomes delivered, policy changes, services provided

The guide wants legitimacy judged towards governments and towards other actors: donors, members, communities and each other.

Legitimation processes

Process	Direction	Example
Formal recognition by an actor in an authority role	Top down	South Sudan admitted to the UN in 2011
Self-legitimation	From the actor	Holding elections or referendums; national symbols
Organic recognition	Bottom up	Turnout, membership, donations, trust
(De)legitimation by opponents	Contest	Boycotts, NGO reports, rival claims

Method in steps

Analysing a legitimacy claim (any actor)

1. Name the actor and the claim precisely.
2. Identify the source or sources it relies on.
3. Name the audience: citizens, other states, an IGO, members, donors.
4. Explain why that audience accepts or rejects the claim.
5. Test it: is the source durable, and what would undermine it?

Tracing a loss of legitimacy

1. Which source was damaged?
2. Was the challenge internal, external or both?
3. Did the government lose legitimacy, the state, or both?
4. What was the outcome: fall from office, repression, reform?
5. Was legitimacy rebuilt, and through which source?

Paper 1 compare and contrast Keep a running comparison. Each paragraph covers one point and refers to both sources. Say where they agree, where they differ, and why.

Must-know distinctions

• Legitimacy vs power. Power is the ability to effect change; legitimacy is acceptance. Coercion can keep power without legitimacy.
• Legitimacy vs legality. Legal acts can be seen as illegitimate; illegal protest can be seen as legitimate.
• Legitimacy vs sovereignty. Control of territory can exist without wide recognition, and recognition without control.
• State vs government. A government can fall while the state stays accepted.
• Process vs performance. Elections versus delivery. Most governments rely on both.
• Internal vs external challenge. Citizens’ protests versus sanctions and non-recognition.
• Formal vs organic recognition. Granted by an authority versus earned from audiences.

Case bank

Use cases from roughly the last two decades, as the guide recommends. Explain each; do not just name it.

• Sri Lanka 2022: economic crisis, mass protests, president resigned. Government legitimacy lost; state legitimacy intact; renewed by the 2024 election.
• Lebanon 2020: Beirut port explosion; government resigned. Governance and transparency.
• Myanmar 2021: military coup; force against protesters; ASEAN excluded its leaders from summits.
• Belarus 2020: disputed presidential election; EU non-recognition and sanctions.
• Afghanistan 2021: Taliban control with very limited formal recognition. Sovereignty and legitimacy apart.
• Kosovo 2008: declared independence; recognition divided; not a UN member. State legitimacy contested.
• Saudi Arabia: hereditary monarchy; religious role; welfare and Vision 2030. Non-electoral sources.
• Médecins Sans Frontières: neutrality, expertise, private funding. Non-state actor legitimacy through interaction, ability and efficacy.
• Fridays for Future: youth climate movement; strong representation claim without an elected mandate.

Linking legitimacy to the thematic studies

The guide notes that legitimacy may look different in each thematic study. Paper 2 section B essays reward these links.

• Peace and conflict: who has a legitimate claim to use force, and how international responses depend on that judgement. See the Peace and conflict revision notes.
• Rights and justice: human-rights violations as a challenge to government legitimacy; NGOs gaining legitimacy by documenting abuses. See the Rights and justice revision notes.
• Development and sustainability: development and sustained development as sources of performance legitimacy; the legitimacy of companies and movements in climate debates.

Paper 1 at a glance

Paper 1 lasts 1 hour 15 minutes, carries 25 marks, and is 30% of the SL grade or 20% of the HL grade. It has four sources and four compulsory questions: understanding a source (3 marks), applying knowledge to a source (4 marks), comparing and/or contrasting two sources (6 marks) and evaluating the sources with your own knowledge (12 marks, marked against markbands).

Quick self-test

1. Define legitimacy in one sentence.
2. Name two process sources and two performance sources of government legitimacy.
3. Give one reason why legitimacy is not the same as legality.
4. In Sri Lanka in 2022, was it the state or the government that lost legitimacy? Justify briefly.
5. List the four areas the guide gives for judging non-state actor legitimacy.
6. Give one external challenge to a government’s legitimacy.
7. What is the difference between top-down recognition and organic recognition?
8. How can an actor have sovereignty without legitimacy? Give a case.
9. Which source of legitimacy does a disputed election most directly damage?
10. Why must you name an audience when judging legitimacy?
11. Which Paper 1 skill is AO3 and asks you to refer to two sources throughout?
12. Give one self-legitimation strategy.

Answers

1. Legitimacy is broad acceptance by a population that an actor or action is proper and has the right to exercise power.
2. Process: free and fair elections; transparency (also representation, consent). Performance: citizen welfare; order and stability (also development, quality of governance).
3. A law can be passed through proper procedure yet be widely rejected; an illegal protest can be widely seen as justified.
4. The government. Protests targeted the president and his administration; power passed through constitutional procedures, so the state itself stayed accepted.
5. Representation, interaction, ability, efficacy.
6. Any one: sanctions on officials; non-recognition of an election result; suspension from a regional body; a critical UN resolution.
7. Top-down recognition is granted formally by an actor in an authority role, such as UN admission. Organic recognition grows from stakeholders, such as public trust or membership.
8. It can control territory without being accepted, for example the Taliban in Afghanistan after 2021, with very limited formal recognition.
9. Free and fair elections, and with it consent of governed people; it often damages international recognition too.
10. Legitimacy is acceptance by someone. The same actor can be accepted by one audience and rejected by another.
11. Question 3: compare and/or contrast.
12. Holding elections or a referendum; publishing performance reports; appealing to national identity or ideology.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining legitimacy as “legal” or “powerful” instead of “accepted”.
• Mixing up state and government legitimacy in a case where only one changed.
• Listing several sources with no explanation of how each works in the case.
• Naming an example with no date, actor or detail. The guide expects contextualisation.
• Never saying whose acceptance is at stake.
• Treating every non-elected government as illegitimate, ignoring the other sources the guide names.
• Judging non-state actors on one area only, usually efficacy, and skipping representation.
• In compare and contrast, writing about each source separately instead of a running comparison.
• In evaluation, giving one side only. Weigh strengths and limits and reach a judgement.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Global politics guide, first assessment 2026 (published February 2024). Prescribed topic: “Legitimacy in global politics”, within the core topics “Understanding power and global politics”. Related: Global Politics assessment revision notes.