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Legitimation from the Top – Analysing International Institutions’ Self-Legitimations

Democratisation
Institutions
International Relations
P192
Jennifer Gronau
Osnabrück University
Dominika Biegon
Universität Bremen
Dominik Zaum
University of Reading
Open Section

Building: Boyd Orr, Floor: 5, Room: D LT

Saturday 16:00 - 17:40 BST (06/09/2014)

Abstract

Transnational protests and critical media debates indicate that international institutions have increasingly become the object of legitimacy assessments in the broader public. In order to cope with the alleged legitimacy deficits of international governance, these challenged institutions engage in various forms of self-legitimation. Yet, empirical legitimacy research has so far largely neglected the role of legitimacy claims made by international institutions and their efforts to legitimize themselves. By proposing to study the self-legitimation of international institutions this panel seeks to bring together research that scrutinizes the means by which international institutions try to establish and maintain a reliable basis of diffuse support. Self-legitimations can be analyzed on the level of (verbal or non-verbal) discourses scrutinizing the meanings of legitimacy and structure of legitimacy claims made by international institutions or on the level of practices, i.e. on more substantive forms of behavioral adaptation and change, including institutional reforms (introduction of transparency regimes, accountability measures, procedures to include civil society organizations), communication policies, and efforts to improve the performance of international institutions. The aim of the panel is to generate conceptual and methodological clarifications with respect to the analysis of self-legitimations, to discuss a variety of different empirical approaches to the self-legitimation of international institutions and to gain first comparative insights on the similarities and differences of international institutions’ efforts to legitimize themselves.

Title Details
This is Who We Are: The Role of Institutional Identity in International Institutions’ Legitimation View Paper Details
Strategies of Self-Legitimation – The Cases of UNDP and the World Bank View Paper Details
Between Citizens and Survival: Legitimating the African Union View Paper Details
We Are Each Unique: Legitimation Practices of the G8 and G20 View Paper Details
The Quest for Legitimacy in World Politics – International Institutions’ Legitimation Strategies View Paper Details