Then the question is how to obtain legitimacy, how to obtain public support, how much freedom can be allowed, etc. Let me take two issues and discuss them within this context, namely the issue of repression and the issue of corruption. We can say that oppression and corruption can strengthen the regime, but they can also weaken it. First of all, if a regime's supporters know that they will benefit, financially or otherwise, from the said regime, then it will gain more support from among the people. Corruption, therefore, can serve as a means of mobilizing support.
Corruption can also play a positive social role because it is a way of re-distributing wealth.
However, corruption can also be detrimental to the government's performance. When corruption reaches a certain level, it begins to damage society because resources are badly distributed, and the international credibility of the state is negatively affected so that international banks will no longer give loans. Also, when corruption becomes too widespread, the people who are left out start opposing the state. It is the same with the phenomenon of repression. So, we have to look at different phenomena of societies, examine them in their structural and historical context, and then try to evaluate them.