The legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations: introduction and framework

While legitimacy dynamics are paramount in global governance, they have been insufficiently recognized, conceptualized, and explained in standard accounts of international cooperation. This special issue aims to advance the empirical study of legitimacy and legitimation in global governance. It enga...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of International Organizations 2019-12, Vol.14 (4), p.581-606
Main Authors: Tallberg, Jonas, Zürn, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audiences
Communication
Compliance
Democracy
Economics
Governance
International cooperation
International organizations
International relations
Introduction
Legitimacy
Legitimation
Perceptions
Political Science
Politics
Public opinion
Social Sciences
Sovereignty
Studies
Theory
Trump, Donald J
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Summary:While legitimacy dynamics are paramount in global governance, they have been insufficiently recognized, conceptualized, and explained in standard accounts of international cooperation. This special issue aims to advance the empirical study of legitimacy and legitimation in global governance. It engages with the question of when, how, and why international organizations (IOs) gain, sustain, and lose legitimacy in world politics. In this introduction, we first conceptualize legitimacy as the belief that an IO’s authority is appropriately exercised, and legitimation and delegitimation as processes of justification and contestation intended to shape such beliefs. We then discuss sources of variation in legitimation processes and legitimacy beliefs, with a particular focus on the authority, procedures, and performances of IOs. Finally, we describe the methods used to empirically study legitimacy and legitimation, preview the articles of the special issue, and chart next steps for this research agenda.
ISSN:1559-7431
1559-744X
1559-744X
DOI:10.1007/s11558-018-9330-7