And history teaches this iron law of revolutions: the more extensive the eradication of existing authority, the more its successors must rely on naked power to establish themselves. For, in the end, legitimacy involves an acceptance of authority without compulsion; its absence turns every contest into a test of strength.
 Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (1994). copy citation

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Author Henry Kissinger
Source Diplomacy
Topic strength authority legitimacy
Date 1994
Language English
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