Legitimate Authority through Shared Sovereignty
Legitimate authority rooted in the commitment to the common good and the voluntary participation in governance (shared sovereignty)
WHAT IS IT?
Legitimate authority is regarded by people as entitled to have its decision and rules accepted and followed by others. SHG establishes itself as a legitimate authority through appeal to shared sovereignty, based on moral and public reason, its commitment to the common good, mutual collective accountability, inclusive participation of stakeholders, and respect for self-determination based on health agency. Sovereignty, the power to organize and govern a collective system, is distributed throughout individual and collective actors under SHG. Individuals and groups come together to develop structures and procedures to make decisions, govern collectively, and set standards for self and societal regulation. This makes SHG a legitimate authority since actors need to agree to and follow the governance system in which they can exercise sovereignty and agency through participation and representation.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Research demonstrates that the legitimacy of the shared endeavor is a critical social motivation for cooperation towards a common goal. People are generally averse to inequitable and illegitimate institutions. Legitimacy is also one of the five common criteria for evaluating good governance. Few want to be governed by what they deem illegitimate. Thus, systems and institutions in SHG practice legitimacy by ensuring shared sovereignty; they uphold and actualize common goals and values, include all the relevant actors in the decision-making process, and allow them to appropriately exercise their health agency.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
Under this principle, central SHG institutions practice dual substantive and procedural legitimacy -- legitimacy both in the content of shared goals and values represented and in the process of policymaking and the establishment of the constitution and central institutions. Shared sovereignty ensures that the common goal and shared values, ideas, and norms reflect what is shared among all the actors. The establishment of the constitution and central institutions, as well as policymaking within those institutions, will include all the relevant actors and let them exercise their health agency.
HOW DO WE DO IT?
This principle builds upon other principles, such as the principle of health capabilities for all and the principle of shared values, principles, and norms in effectuating substantive legitimacy. These principles ensure that common goals and shared values, principles, and norms in health governance are universally acceptable to all actors. At the global level, SHG ensures procedural legitimacy or shared sovereignty in the creation of governance systems and policies. This is, through the Global Health Constitution and its two central institutions (Global Institute of Health and Medicine, and the Global Health Council). The Constitution turns other SHG principles into actionable goals and delineates the roles each actor plays, bringing all actors under a united health governance structure and minimizing the unjust influence of rich and powerful countries (e.g., power-bargaining for treaties). It ensures that SHG has a system to include all voices, particularly the vulnerable and marginalized, who have been neglected under a rational actor model of governance. Two central institutions ensure overarching constitutional requirements foundational to specific policy-making processes. At the domestic level, each country can establish and implement a Health Constitution, Institute of Health and Medicine, and Health Council as inclusive decision-making processes align with governance at the global level.