Rebuilding institutional legitimacy is considered essential for stability in postconflict societies, yet the factors that influence citizen perceptions of legitimacy in this context remain underresearched. In this article, we examine citizen evaluations of government legitimacy in terms of instrumental antecedents (service delivery, distributive justice) and procedural antecedents (procedural justice, voice), using data collected in the context of a nationwide study of postconflict governance in Nepal. We find that procedural justice is more strongly associated with citizen perceptions of institutional legitimacy than instrumental outcomes such as service delivery, distributive justice, and outcome favorability. Results indicate that the relationship between service delivery and legitimacy is not as simple as previously assumed. We conclude that procedural justice is crucial for building perceptions of government legitimacy in postconflict societies and discuss implications for policy and practice relating to postconflict governance and institutional trust building.

Content analysis is a powerful tool for investigating attitudes expressed in naturally occurring language data. It is a useful tool to help researchers develop an understanding of a specific research field through identifying how particular issues or topics have been conceptualized or where fieldwork can be limited or prohibitive. This is especially true for research on postconflict reconstruction, where large-scale quantitative surveying or metareviews of the literature can be prohibitive. The present study provides a case study of how a particular content analysis software program-Leximancer-was used to map factors associated with institutional legitimacy in postconflict societies. The case of Timor-Leste is used as an example. We examine texts at three levels of discourse: at the academic, official, and primary levels. Results indicate differing perspectives on legitimacy at each level of discourse. This article offers a snapshot of a potential method for understanding how particular topics are conceptualized within a specific research field and can thus help in the development of evaluation methods or data collection instruments.

The potentially controversial science of nanotechnology is only now beginning to infiltrate mainstream public consciousness through media channels. This article suggests the infiltration is taking different forms, depending on the nationality of journalists reporting on the science. Having completed analysis of a large longitudinal international sample of news and feature articles about nanotechnology, we report that journalists in Australia and New Zealand deploy sources ‘direct from the lab’ to highlight scientific advancements; those in Asia emphasise the nation-building potential of nanotechnology; US journalists provide positive coverage across all areas; and those in the United Kingdom offer the most critical analysis and risk reporting. These messages have also evolved over time in each region. Results are integrated with existing research about public perceptions of nanotechnology, and suggest several themes common to all media reporting of nanotechnology, the most important of which reflects positive reporting or acceptance, although safety concerns and health risks also arise.

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Legitimacy refers to the perceived rightfulness of authorities, and is central to citizens' perceptions of institutions such as the government. Legitimate authority is linked to acceptance of institutions and long-term stability of societies. As such, rebuilding the legitimacy of institutions such as the government and judiciary ('institutional legitimacy') is essential for stability in post-conflict societies. In this thesis, I explore the factors that lead citizens to view their government as legitimate following the reconstruction of central government institutions after a conflict. I draw on sociological, political science, social psychological and statebuilding theories to develop and present a theoretical model of post-conflict legitimacy.The model has three key components. The first encompasses relational and instrumental antecedents of legitimacy. Relational antecedents encompass fair and neutral decision-making, as well as respectful and dignified treatment, and are referred to collectively as procedural justice. Instrumental antecedents are those which involve outcomes to citizens, and include distributive justice (fairness in outcome distribution), outcome favourability (personal gain in outcomes), and government performance (the ability of the government to function effectively and provide services to citizens). These main variables are investigated along with contingencies relating to social groups that may influence the relationship between procedural justice and legitimacy, such as national identification and group power. Testing of the first model component revealed that procedural justice was by far the strongest predictor of post-conflict institutional legitimacy, and was significantly stronger than instrumental variables such as distributive justice, government performance, and outcome favourability. Further, the relationship between procedural justice and legitimacy was moderated by national identification and group power, suggesting that procedural justice operates through social identity to exert its positive effect. Moreover, the effect of procedural justice on government legitimacy was not simply due to trust and performance perceptions of local institutions, and was not diminished by the government's ability to provide essential services (as predicted by the statebuilding literature). 4Testing of the second model component revealed that two elements of local ownership-voice and local influence-weakly predicted legitimacy, with these relationships varying according to participants' position in the Nepalese caste hierarchy.Testing of the third model component revealed a significant social interaction effect, such that citizens' legitimacy beliefs are influenced by the legitimacy views of those around them. This effect persisted even when demographic, regional, and individual-level variables were controlled.This thesis concludes that procedural justice is more predictive of post-conflict institutional legitimacy than instrumental outcomes. Further, the relationship appears to operat...