This short introduction aims to provide the theoretical background and highlight the key issues that are necessary to understand the research questions addressed by the papers collected in the focus section «Legitimacy of Law and Legitimation of Power at the Time of the Twilight of Sovereignty». We first deal with the roots of the problem of legality and legitimacy in the context of the so-called «crisis of sovereignty», suggesting that it depends on the recent transformations in the political, economic and legal systems, in which the relations and balances between legitimacy and legality, law and justice, authority and power, are being redefined. We then close with an outline of the section’s structure and contents.
