Tribunals of inquiry as instruments of legitimacy: A ritualization perspective
通过分析爱尔兰历史上最大医疗丑闻的两个连续调查法庭案例，运用仪式理论探讨国家如何在危机中通过仪式化过程重塑合法性。
This paper is an exploratory qualitative study into how tribunals of inquiry act as instruments of legitimacy and hegemony for the State. Focusing on a case study of two consecutive tribunals of inquiry into the biggest health scandal in the history of the Irish State, the paper draws on ritual theory to offer a view of the tribunal as a process of ritualization, a strategic way of acting by the State in times of crisis. Through this process of ritualization, an authoritative, structured and structuring ritualized environment is created with schemes of ritualization imposed on participants directed toward creating ritualized bodies, hoped-for acceptance of the tribunal’s projection of reality and the re-legitimation of the role of the State in undertaking its core functions.