E-Books →Legitimating International Organization

Despite the prominence of legitimacy talk around international organisations, little attention has been paid to the practices and processes through which such organisations and their member states justify the authority these organisations exercise - how they legitimise themselves both vis-a-vis their own members and external audiences. This book addresses this gap by comparing and evaluating the legitimation practices of a range of international and regional organisations. It examines the practices through which such organisations justify and communicate their legitimacy claims, and how these practices differ between organisations. In exploring the specific legitimation practices of international organisations, this book analyses the extent to which such practices are shaped by the structure of the different organisations, by the distinct normative environments within which they operate, and by the character of the audiences of their legitimacy claims. It also considers the
implications of this analysis for global and regional governance.