The Impact of Corruption on the Principles of Legality and Legitimacy

Abstract

Although legitimacy establishes the governor’s right, legality establishes his duty and the contrary for the people, where legitimacy establishes the obedience duty, while legality is a fundamental guarantee of people’s rights and freedoms. While the principles of legality and legitimacy are important, the spread of corruption can undermine them and build a negative interactive relationship that arises in a cumulative manner between corruption and legitimacy as well as illegality crisis.

The study therefore clarified the effect of corruption on legality and legitimacy principles, and it has been shown that corruption is a cause and a result of multiple crises, the most serious of which are the legitimacy and illegality’ crises, where the people lose their confidence in power, as the latter also refuses to respect the principle of legality and other principles and guarantees that are reinforced for its maintenance, such as the principle of constitution supremacy and judicial control over the constitutionality of laws. It may also formulate and implement policies that reflect the interests of a few groups, despite their conflict with the demands and interests of the majority, which deepens the legitimacy crisis. Corruption is therefore a key factor in establishing illegal regimes, while the legitimacy crisis is leading to the perception of corruption as a governance method, as these regimes create an environment conducive and suitable for corruption to ensure its own reproduction.