The legitimation of political power: the ancient and contemporary experience

The article continues the comparative analysis of ancient and contemporary technologies of the legitimation of political power on the example of the Roman Republic and current democracies. To compare legitimation practices, three stages were identified: electoral, intermediate, and investitive. This article discusses the latter two stages. The analysis showed that rational measures designed to ensure the integrity and fairness of elections, in reality, can contribute to delegitimation - the destruction of the traditional political system and its democratic component in the course of completely legitimate practices of challenging the results. At the same time, irrational measures based on deep beliefs and traditions effectively serve to preserve civil peace and the existing system. This makes it possible to speak of democracy as a reproducible tradition through appropriate electoral practices accompanied by ritual procedures. The legitimacy of the regime is conditioned by the preservation of fair democratic procedures as honest and transparent to internal actors (citizens) and capable of provoking them to criticism by opposition leaders. The preservation of the procedure for assuming the modern office of head of state - the inauguration - is the most obvious similarity in the ritualized legitimation of ancient and contemporary democracies.