What makes a government legitimate? The dominant view is that our public officials have the right to rule us, even if they are unfit or unfair, as long as they gain power through procedures based on our consent. In Legitimacy, Arthur Applbaum argues that adherence to procedure is not enough, that legitimacy must also depend on the substance of laws, policies, and practices. Applbaum holds that a government cannot be legitimate unless it upholds three...

A respected Chinese political philosopher calls for the Communist Party to take the lead in moving China along the path to democracy before it is too late. With Xi Jinping potentially set as president for life, China's move toward political democracy may appear stalled. But Jiwei Ci argues that four decades of reform have created a mentality in the Chinese people that is just waiting for the political system to catch up, resulting in a disjunction...