Let’s explore history from an unusual angle: how ruling powers justified their legitimacy.
For millennia, institutions of power claimed legitimacy through religion and nationalism. Kings were appointed directly by God. Priests served as locally dispatched guardians of individual behavior. Men were called by their God to wage war and send to His judgment those who did not pray in the correct fashion. But the religious justification has faded away. In the USA, where many early immigrants fled religious persecution in England, France, and Germany, the First Amendment of the Constitution established the separation of church and state in 1791. In France, the Loi concernant la séparation des Eglises et de l’Etat was adopted in 1905.
As religious arguments weakened, nationalism became the primary legitimizer for governing institutions. And indeed, the countless wars of the 19th and first half of the 20th century left little room for challenging that ideology. But the Western World focused on international peace after the trauma of the two world wars, resulting in an unprecedented era of peace.
This amazing achievement left a void for governing bodies. Devoid of the inarguable legitimacy provided by religion or active warfare, reigning powers began to be judged on their economic output from the mid-1900s. The main debate, to put it politely, was between capitalism and communism. The Communist East and Capitalist West waged an ideological war throughout the second half of the 20th century. Capitalism has comprehensively won the argument. While most countries in the world now operate under a capitalist system, only five countries in the world declare themselves to be communist: China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea. And China, the most economically successful among them, actually operates under an economic model much closer to capitalism than communism, having embraced a market economy and private entrepreneurship. Karl Marx would not be proud.
If you want a system that sources its legitimacy from its genuine performance, join Ethical Capitalism.
Ethical Capitalism: A Proposal for a Better World, Sebastien Mouton