The classic theory on the emergence of state legitimacy comes from Lipset's Political Man (1961). Lipset describes a long historical process in which nations overcome a series of crises and so build the confidence of their citizens. “The stability of any given democracy depends not only on economic development but also upon the effectiveness and legitimacy of its political system. Effectiveness means actual performance, the extent to which the system satisfies the basic functions of government as most of the population and … powerful groups … see them” (Lipset 1961: 64). He further argues that modern democracies' legitimacy derives on a continuing basis from their ability to overcome crises concerning the role of religion in society, the establishment of citizenship rights for the working classes, and the distribution of income (Lipset 1961). Thus, states face an ongoing struggle of performing successfully in order to avoid legitimacy crises. Later Easton (1975) persuasively argued that states can build a “reservoir” of legitimacy to get them through difficult times but that a long-term failure to perform drains that reservoir. In order effectively to study legitimacy and test how it might vary among nations, we need a sample of countries with diverse governmental performance in various areas. In this chapter, we justify our selection of country cases by demonstrating their wide performance differences.