Neither legitimacy nor physical force arises without the mediation of symbolic processes. The concepts characterize neither a simple opposition nor the dual poles of a single dimension, such that one might say: the more physical force, the less legitimacy, and vice versa. Rather, symbolic interdependencies exist in the sense that regulations of the relationship at the symbiotic level – i.e. at the organic side of social co-existence – have to reckon with the requirements of the relevant communication medium. The interplay of both is necessary for the processing of contingencies, and the preconditions for this combined action can vary as they evolve. Above all they depend on the differentiation of a specifically political power mechanism and on its universal accessibility throughout society.

DEFINE: Clarifies that legitimacy and physical force are not opposites on one scale but interdependent symbolic-symbiotic mechanisms requiring communication-medium compatibility.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 718