The legitimation of international organisations: examining the identity of the communities that grant legitimacy

Abstract

Abstract‘Legitimacy’ is commonly cited as one of three fundamental mechanisms of social control within both domestic politics and international society. However, despite growing attention to the legitimacy of global governance, little consideration has been given to the identity of the political communities that must grant legitimacy to an international organisation or to the conditions under which legitimacy is valuable for the functioning of that organisation. In raising and responding to these questions, this article rejects the argument that actors must gain legitimacy among all subject social constituencies within their political realm of action. Instead, the importance of legitimacy within a particular constituency is a variable. The article labels this variable a ‘legitimacy nexus’ and outlines five factors that are hypothesised to contribute to calibrating a legitimacy nexus. The plausibility of the proposed schema is explored through discussion of the role of legitimacy in the trade regime and analysis of the origins of the International Labour Organization's anomalous tripartite representative structure.

Legitimacy Deficits of International Organizations: design, drift, and decoupling at the UN Security Council

“…While IOs have traditionally been understood in power-based or functionalist terms, a burgeoning body of scholarship has recognized the significance of legitimacy for IOs and other international institutions (Bexell 2014;Brassett and Tsingou 2011;Buchanan and Keohane 2006;Coicaud and Heiskanen 2001;Grigorescu 2015;Symons 2011;Zaum 2013b;Zürn 2004). The legitimacy of an institution consists of the degree to which its relevant public generally regards its features and behaviour as desirable, correct or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs and definitions (Franck 1990, 24;Hurd 1999, 381;Reus-Smit 2007, 159;Suchman 1995, 574;Zaum 2013a, 9).…”

“…The link between power and legitimacy is particularly obvious when it comes to defining an institution's relevant public, as some actors' legitimacy perceptions clearly matter more than others' (Symons 2011(Symons , 2558. Most IOs' primary audiences will be their member states, yet an institution's relevant public can potentially widen to include secondary audiences, such as non-member states, domestic publics, NGOs, or other transnational actors.…”

Global Governance, Legitimacy and (De)Legitimation

“…Questions about the audiences of legitimation strategies have primarily concerned civil society actors, though some authors have looked at experts as legitimacy-granting audiences (e.g. Cutler, 2010;Quack, 2010;Symons, 2011). The different groups that international organizations now consider relevant audiences of legitimation efforts emphasize different criteria of legitimacy.…”

“…This poses challenges both for institutions exercising legitimation efforts and for their scholarly analysis (Zaum, 2013). Strong normative contestation among groups within the community renders the establishment of legitimacy criteria difficult, if even possible, and subject to continuous struggle (Symons, 2011;Bernstein, 2011;Halliday et al, 2010).…”

“…This is one example of how, despite having existed for many years, organizations adapt their legitimacy claims as they seek legitimacy from new audiences (cf. Symons, 2011).…”