WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT: THEMES AND ARGUMENT

It is now possible to return to the coronation of Napoleon, and to state the position which this book attempts to argue and illustrate. I shall set out the points of the argument in a fairly dogmatic manner, not on the assumption that they will thereby be more convincing, but in order that the account given in the book should be clear, and that there are no consciously or deliberately hidden assumptions in the discussion.

Endogenous or self-legitimation is a characteristic activity of government

It is an activity, which can be observed and which comprises all those actions which rulers, but not only rulers, take to insist on or demonstrate, as much to themselves as to others, that they are justified in the pattern of actions that they follow. Self-legitimation is an inherent and characterising activity of government, just as worship is one of the characterising activities of religion, or singing one of the characterising features of choral music. It may of course characterise other activities also, but in different ways. The self-legitimation of rulers is part of the activity of ruling, and as such contributes to both constituting it and defining it. There will be many views about the value or acceptability of the legitimation conducted by different rulers, just as there will be many views about religious doctrine and ritual, or musical quality. Such disputes are an endemic accompaniment of such activities.