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| | rights, people, authority, state, group, forms, political, contract, while, through, executive, three, small - ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08) |
 | | Legitimacy is the attribute of a government that prompts the governed to acquiesce willingly to its authority. |
 | | Under traditional forms of government that ruled most of the world until a few centuries ago, such as monarchy and oligarchy, these powers were concentrated in the hands of one person or a small group of people. |
 | | Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a constitution and a set of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. |
| www.alphasearch.org /Government.html (1605 words) |
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