Cloze passage

[impeccableman]

"The Congress also approved an open letter from the group to Mr. Yeltsin that challenged the _______ of his power given recent decision to extend from 18 months to two years the period of compulsory military service."

The model answer is " legitimacy ".

Q1: Can it be "validity"? Does it go well with the sentence?
Q2: If it's okay, any difference between the two in this context?

[Marius Hancu]

No, legitimacy is the right word.

[OddThomas]

To support Marius's answer I would add that valid means well-founded and true while legitimate means legal.

[MrPedantic]

There is something a little odd (or perhaps missing) in this part of the original:

1. his power given recent decision to extend from 18 months to two years the period of compulsory military service.

MrP

[Bridget]

There is something a little odd (or perhaps missing) in this part of the original:

1. his power given recent decision to extend from 18 months to two years the period of compulsory military service.

MrP

, given a/his recent decision to extend from 18 months to two years the period of compulsory military service."

[impeccableman]

To support Marius's answer I would add that valid means well-founded and true while legitimate means legal.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=45473&ph=on
The above website shows that "legitimate" can also mean "valid" (= reasonable and acceptable) and "legitimize", the verb form of "legitimate", have similar meanings (to legitimize something= to make something seem acceptable).

But the website shows that "legitimacy", the noun form of "legitimate" can only mean "the state of being legal".

I have doubts if it can also mean "the state of being acceptable" or " the state of having public endorsements thus making it acceptable" If it can also mean that, why not "validity"? Is it related to collocation?

If it can't mean that, then are there any other words which can be inserted into the blank to convey a message that in the eyes of people, that Mr. Yeltsin used his power to make the recent decision is unreasonable , not well-founded or not well-accepted by them ?

[Marius Hancu]

This is about politics.

In politics, being legitimately in power means not to be an usurper, it's about the legal access to power, not about what you're talking about.

[OddThomas]

A valid point.

[MrPedantic]

If the example should be amended as B. suggests, which does not seem unreasonable, it isn't clear why the "recent decision" should have any bearing on the legitimacy or validity of Yeltsin's power. Yet that's what "given" seems to imply.

MrP

[impeccableman]

If the example should be amended as B. suggests, which does not seem unreasonable, it isn't clear why the "recent decision" should have any bearing on the legitimacy or validity of Yeltsin's power. Yet that's what "given" seems to imply.

MrP

In fact, I don't really understand the sentence structure.
( ...of his power given recent decision to extend...)

What does "given" modify? What does it mean in the context?
Can the sentence be construed as "... of his power to give recent decision to extend..."?

[Marius Hancu]

"The Congress also approved an open letter from the group to Mr. Yeltsin that challenged the legitimacy of his power given recent decision to extend from 18 months to two years the period of compulsory military service."

>of his power given recent decision

Should be:

of his power, given the recent decision [See the comma

which means:

of his power, taking into account the recent decision

[OddThomas]

At this point I believe it would be helpful to get some clarity.

It was Mr. Yeltsin who extended the compulsory military service on his own, and the Russian Congress objected.

If you read the sentence and thought that some other third party extended compulsory military service, then you might wonder what this has to do with Mr. Yeltsin's legitimacy. But if you consider that the Congress might have been angry and considering Mr. Yeltsin's actions illegal, then the sentence makes sense.

[impeccableman]

Marius Hancu, OddThomas Thanks a lot ^_^

The last question: Can "validity" be used in the sentence to mean in the eyes of Mr.Yeltsin, it is no problem to put forward the recent decision or he even reckoned that his recent decision was well-founded;all the same, in the eyes of other people or the Congress, they founded his recent decision invalid, ill-founded or deemed the reasons to put forward his recent decision ostensible?

[OddThomas]

In short, Mr. Yeltsin thought it was a good idea; the Congress thought it was illegal.

[impeccableman]

That means "validity" cannot be used in this context. I see your point. Thanks. ^_^

But do you think "validity" can go with "power" or "of holding power" in other context?