The Rationality of Legitimacy (Domination)
By Thanes Wongyannava
When the "Modern State" becomes incompatible with the state of nature, it survives through a meticulously crafted veneer of rationality and legitimacy. But whose rationality is it, and what does it serve to conceal?
In this profound theoretical intervention, Thanes Wongyannava argues that the modern state exists only insofar as the "People" perceive its laws and mechanisms to be reasonable. However, "Rationality" is never a neutral arbiter; it is perpetually anchored in specific value systems. Consequently, any structure deemed "legitimate and rational" is invariably a site of Domination (Interests).
The state requires legitimacy to govern, and to secure that legitimacy, it must engineer a sense of rationality. In contemporary society, this creates a profound tension: while the citizenry yearns for liberty and rights, the state seeks to impose order and discipline.
Wongyannava meticulously distills centuries of political thought to provoke a fundamental question: How is legitimacy constructed, and through what methods? More importantly, he challenges the reader to consider the "hidden clause" of modern governance—that legitimacy may simply be the public face of an underlying, pervasive domination.
// Table of Contents //
Acknowledgments (First Edition, June 2011)
Author’s Preface (Second Edition, March 2016)
Introduction
01 The Superfluous Necessity of Political Organizations
02 Modernity and Legitimacy
03 The State and the Self-Legitimizing Architecture of Domination
04 Legitimacy: Belief, Ideology, and Domination
05 Governmentality
06 Public Justification and Legitimacy
07 "Care" as a Condition of Life and the "Fragility of Rights"
Details
▪️Format : Paperback
▪️Piyavit Tepumnuaysakul : Editor
▪️Designed by ● SM STUDIO | Pratompong Namjaidee ●
▪️Published : March 2016
▪️Length : 416 pages
▪️ISBN : 978-616-7196-61-9
▪️Dimensions (in) : 5.25 x 8.25
▪️Price : 350 THB
