Charles Tilly
Bruce Gilley's The Right to Rule is one of the most promising contributions to political theory in a long time.
— Charles Tilly, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University, and author of Why? What Happens When People Give Reasons... and Why
Tom Tyler
Bruce Gilley does a wonderful job of organizing the literature on legitimacy and governance. He then adds an ambitious empirical effort to explore whether legitimacy is important in governance and, if so, which elements of legitimacy are key. This book is a must read for those interested in understanding the factors that lead to successful vs. failing states.
— Tom Tyler, University Professor, New York University, and author of Why People Obey the Law
Mitchell A. Seligson
The increasing incidence of failing and failed states makes the study of political legitimacy of growing importance to policymakers and analysts. This comprehensive and unique work makes great strides in advancing our understanding of the factors that affect variation in the right to rule, across nations and over time. Bruce Gilley uses public opinion and data from seventy-two countries, as well as material taken from case studies, to help us understand why legitimacy is so solid in some nations and so fragile in others. By emphasizing the centrality of legitimacy to politics and political stability, The Right to Rule definitively refutes those who have dismissed the importance of political legitimacy.
— Mitchell A. Seligson, Centennial Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University
