International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

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Volume 8 Issue 5
September-October 2026

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Ethical Reciprocity and Political Legitimacy: A Relational Theoryof Individuals, Society, and Political Institutions

Author(s) Dr. Sujit Narayan Chattopadhyay, Sujit Narayan Chattopadhyay
Country India
Abstract Abstract
Political legitimacy is commonly examined through institutional authorisation, procedural validity, and governmental performance. Yet these approaches do not fully explain how the ethical relations connecting individuals, society, and political institutions sustain or erode legitimacy. This article develops a relational theory of political legitimacy centred on ethical reciprocity, understood as the reciprocal recognition of obligations among these actors under conditions of unequal power. It argues that legitimacy is not a fixed attribute of institutions but an ongoing relational achievement shaped by how political power is exercised and how responsibilities are acknowledged, fulfilled, and contested. The article distinguishes reciprocity from symmetrical exchange, showing how persistent inequalities in the distribution of obligations and the absence of institutional responsiveness can produce ethical asymmetry and weaken legitimacy. By connecting individual ethical agency, social expectations, institutional conduct, and political power, the article explains how legitimacy may be reproduced, eroded, or repaired. Ethical reciprocity thus provides a relational account of legitimacy grounded in differentiated responsibility and reciprocal accountability.
Keywords Ethical reciprocity; political legitimacy; political ethics; relational theory; differentiated responsibility; institutional accountability; political authority; democratic governance
Field Sociology > Politics
Published In Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On 2026-10-26
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E-ISSN 2582-2160
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CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

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