合法性理论是政治学理论的一个重要组成部分, 虽然其理论的明确提出及其比较系统的研究是近代以来的事情, 但是由于合法性理论和国家政治生活有着密不可分的关系, 或者说, 合法性理论本身就是研究国家政权成败、兴衰的政治现象的, 因此, 自从人类社会的历史上有了国家、进入政治社会以来, 人们也就开始了对政治的合法性问题的思考。古代和近代的政治思想家对合法性理论的探索基本上遵循着理性建构主义的传统, 到了现代, 则出现了合法性理论由理性建构主义向经验主义的转型。当代的合法性理论研究, 主要表现为理性建构主义和经验主义的结合。

Legitimacy is an important concept in political theory, and the theory of legitimacy is a significant component of political theory.Although it was during the modern times that the theory of legitimacy was explicitly put forward and studied systemically, people had begun to think about it ever since there was state or political society in human history.The concept of legitimacy is indispensably connected with a state's political life and the theory of legitimacy discusses the political phenomenon of the rise and fall of a state's regime.Although there were differences in the theory of legitimacy between ancient political thinkers and those after the Renaissance, they generally followed the tradition of rational constructivism.After the 19th century, political thinkers shifted from rational constructivism to empiricism in their inquiry into the theory of legitimacy.In contemporary studies, however, rational constructivism and empiricism are combined together.