A Perception-Based Approach to Evaluating Legitimacy: Evidence from the Post-War Reconstruction of Mosul

This article investigates whether individuals’ perceptions of the legitimacy of intervening actors influence how they evaluate reconstruction efforts. While legitimacy is widely recognized as a key factor in the success or failure of interventions, it is rarely examined in relation to the multiplicity of actors engaged in complex, competitive conflict-affected environments. Drawing on the distinction between ideological legitimacy (based on who the actor is) and pragmatic legitimacy (based on what the actor does), the study explores how these sources of legitimacy interact and influence local satisfaction with reconstruction efforts. It introduces an index, the Performance-Expectation Gap (PEG), to measure the alignment or discrepancy between ideological and pragmatic legitimacy and assess their impact on local satisfaction with reconstruction efforts. Focusing on Mosul after the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) and drawing on an original local perception survey conducted in the city (702 respondents), the findings reveal a complex interplay between ideological and pragmatic legitimacy across governmental/non-governmental and national/international actors with notable variation across sectors of intervention. Overall, the article offers a bottom-up perspective on post-conflict reconstruction efforts and contribute to broader debates on its goals, implementation and legitimacy.