People, Government Legitimacy, and the Risk for Abuse: a Discussion

Abstract

The article seeks to understand the relationship between government legitimacy and the citizens of a state. Specifically, it looks how the person’s ability to build a family and fulfill their purpose can be enabled or inhibited by their government’s actions. The article proposes building a framework based on the Personalism found in John Paul II’s work Love and Responsibility, as the basis for an approach that governments can look towards in the effort to take citizen-based actions internationally and domestically. This will ensure the State’s people are respected and their dignity upheld. Without considering the person in these processes, it is possible to overlook them in politics, and so put them at risk for abuse.