Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

At the time, Mexico was, in effect, a one-party state,governed by a deeply corrupt and softly totalitarian regime whose leaders were beggaring the country. But within the bureaucracy was embedded a generation of brilliant technocrats who were trying to open the nation and its closed economy to the world. The crisis of "legitimacy" pose by the earthquake was acatalyst.

Could anyone explain the meaning of *legitimacy*?

Thnaks

[bud]

"The crisis of legitimacy" means that the government was not generally perceived as a "real" government. It was perceived mostly as a tool for those in power, not for the population as a whole. So "legitimacy" means "genuineness," I guess.