Rituals of democratic unity fail once parties deem each other illegitimate.

Evidence

This is happening now. The delegitimation of parties prevents people from coming together after elections. The rituals of unity—concession speeches, inauguration ceremonies, State of the Union addresses—no longer function. They no longer give the losing side confidence that regular succession will hold and that the next election could carry their candidate to office—not if each side thinks the other is an illegitimate participant in public life. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 380

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Delegitimation erodes democracy slowly rather than through crisis or coup — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 42; Established left parties and radical movements fundamentally disagree over whether institutional participation legitimizes rule. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 375