s are stopped, people also cannot go about their lives with much security if they are always afraid of the secret police. Also, governments that rule by violence often end up in wars with other countries. Saddam Hussein in Iraq was an example of this.
The other way that a government can avoid civil wars and other kinds of disorder is if most of the people support the government. This is what is meant by saying that the government has legitimacy. People may not agree with everything the government does. If the country is democratic they may even vote against it in the next election. But when the government has legitimacy, most people basically accept it. They do not have violent demonstrations in the street, or take guns and go into the hills to start a civil war.
In every country there may be some people who do not think the government is legitimate. However, if there are only a few of these people, they cannot cause a major disorder like a civil war. The rest of the people can go about daily life with security. They are not too afraid of civil war and disorders, or afraid of the government and secret police.
The result is that legitimate government is a very important factor in economic development. It may not be enough to cause development by itself, but a legitimate government at least keeps order and does not get in the way of possible development. This is where democracy becomes an important factor, because in most of the world, democracy is the main thing that makes people feel that their government is legitimate.
Democracy is not the only way to create legitimacy. Several countries around the world are monarchies. In these countries, most people often regard the king or emir and the royal family as legitimate. So the monarch does not have a constant fear of being overthrown, and can provide security to the people. This in turn adds to the feeling by people that the monarchy is legitimate. Eve...