Prof. Steffek publishes new article on the legitimacy of international organizations

Taking the current crisis of international governance as a starting point, the article reviews a rapidly growing literature that has explored the empirical link between public protest against international organizations and their tarnished legitimacy. It distinguishes three strands of research that approach the topic from different angles. The first strand explores individual beliefs through observational and experimental surveys. The second strand analyzes public discourses, mapping arguments deployed to (de-)legitimize international organizations. The third strand studies political action related to legitimacy, such as protest voting, street demonstrations, and withdrawal of member states from IOs. The empirical evidence shows that citizens expect fair procedures and balanced outcomes also in international politics; that legitimation discourses revolve around democratic standards and not only performance; and that institutions respond to protests. It is less clear, however, how the three dimensions of (de-)legitimation interact. The article concludes that we need to triangulate them more systematically to see the connections between beliefs, arguments, and political action at work, as the following figure illustrates.

Link to the full text (open acess): https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viad054