eprintid: 1421078 rev_number: 45 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/01/42/10/78 datestamp: 2014-03-14 11:33:31 lastmod: 2021-11-15 02:45:48 status_changed: 2014-03-14 11:33:31 type: article metadata_visibility: show item_issues_count: 0 creators_name: Bakke, KM creators_name: O'Loughlin, J creators_name: Toal, G creators_name: Ward, MD title: Convincing State-Builders? Disaggregating Internal Legitimacy in Abkhazia ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B03 divisions: C03 divisions: F30 note: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. abstract: De facto states, functional on the ground but unrecognized by most states, have long been black boxes for systematic empirical research. This study investigates de facto states’ internal legitimacy—people's confidence in the entity itself, the regime, and institutions. While internal legitimacy is important for any state, it is particularly important for de facto states, whose lack of external legitimacy has made internal legitimacy integral to their quest for recognition. We propose that the internal legitimacy of de facto states depends on how convincing they are to their “citizens” as state-builders. Using original data from a 2010 survey in Abkhazia, we examine this argument based on respondent perceptions of security, welfare, and democracy. Our findings suggest that internal legitimacy is shaped by the key Weberian state-building function of monopoly of the legitimate use of force, as well as these entities’ ability to fulfill other aspects of the social contract. date: 2013-11 official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/isqu.12110 vfaculties: VSHS oa_status: green full_text_type: pub primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_source: crossref elements_id: 935250 doi: 10.1111/isqu.12110 language_elements: aa lyricists_name: Bakke, Kristin lyricists_id: KBAKK90 full_text_status: public publication: International Studies Quarterly pagerange: - issn: 0020-8833 citation: Bakke, KM; O'Loughlin, J; Toal, G; Ward, MD; (2013) Convincing State-Builders? Disaggregating Internal Legitimacy in Abkhazia. International Studies Quarterly -. 10.1111/isqu.12110 <https://doi.org/10.1111/isqu.12110>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1421078/1/isqu12110.pdf