Legitimating International Organizations

This is a welcome volume - it gives a comprehensive examination of the intersection between international politics, institutions and legitimation. Conceptually, it addresses legitimacy and legitimation with nuance and care, and then applies them empirically to study a wide range of international institutions. That international organizations rely on and trade in legitimacy and legitimation is by now a truism. The contributors go beyond merely asserting that international organizations are involved in legitimation politics and instead provide detailed case studies that show how they do. Across an impressive range of institutions, they examine legitimation around real-world controversies in international institutions. * Ian Hurd, Northwestern University *
As the role of non-state actors (NGOs, new media, etc.) in influencing international relations has increased, the perceived legitimacy of international organizations has become a battle-ground. Even regional courts today criticize the decisions of the UN Security Council, whose remit in the UN Charter once seemed beyond challenge. Thus, while the legitimacy of international institutions today remains critical, in most cases it is in flux. Dominik Zaum and his highly qualified chapter authors do a terrific job of analysing the current state of play and suggesting strategies that international organizations would be wise to consider in seeking to buttress their credibility and to reinforce their sometimes faltering legitimacy. They play a key role in ordering international relations and in encouraging new forms of international cooperation. As citizens, we would be at much greater risk without them. * Dr David M. Malone, Rector of the United Nations University *