POLITICAL SCIENCE:

Can authoritarian rule be legitimate? Why or why not?

Authoritarian rule can be or cannot be legitimate because existence of pure legitimacy is not possible

Explanation:

The  legitimacy represents outspoken public loyalty and conformist mentality  of a individual /group/organization which shapes the repressive administrative machinery to be of a high developed nature. This is not possible in authoritarian regimes which leverage to facilitate  certain sects of the society like elite group.

However, in current time pure  legitimacy is also not possible hence the concept of authoritative legitimacy is arising.

most people were factory or company owners.