84 ◾ Logics of Legitimacy
authoritative role has been played by the church and royalty. inking generically,
suce it to say that this ontological position lends itself to any form of authoritative
governance claiming sovereignty.
While it is true that the United States broke away from its monist (combined
political and religious system) beginnings during the Revolutionary War, it bor-
rows heavily from its ontology by separating church from state and then replac-
ing God with Nature (natural rights as opposed to divine right) and royalty with
elected representatives. is enables an analogous externalization of authority into
a conception of a sovereign state (Schmitt 1985). Taken to its extreme, this logic
supports the notion that the State ...