The Legitimacy of International Organizations

During the past decades, the legitimacy of international organizations (IOs) has become increasingly contested. As international organizations are gaining in authority and become more “visible” in the public realm, the need to justify their authority is growing. As a result, the functioning of IOs in solving collective problems depends more and more on their ability to gain, sustain and increase their legitimacy in the eyes of important stakeholders. This workshop brings together a group of international experts to discuss novel research on the relationship between international organizations and legitimacy/legitimation. We address the following questions and others: Who legitimizes IOs and why, and who contests the legitimacy of IOs and why? What discursive and institutional legitimation strategies do IOs use in their quest for legitimacy? How successful are they? And how do legitimacy crises affect the legitimacy of IOs?

9:15 | Welcome and Introduction Tobias Lenz (GIGA)

9:30 | Panel 1 Chair: Thomas Sommerer (Stockholm University)

Legitimation Narratives of Regional Organizations: Conceptualization and First Empirical Findings Tobias Lenz, Niklas Krösche, Swantje Schirmer and Henning Schmidtke (GIGA)

Discussant 1: Klaus Dingwerth (University of St. Gallen) Discussant 2: Fredrik Söderbaum (University of Gothenburg) Discussant 3: Lora Viola (Free University Berlin)

12:00 | Lunch Break

13:30 | Panel 2 Chair: Bernd Schlipphak (University of Muenster)

Power to the People? The Public as Legitimation Constituency for IOs Klaus Dingwerth (University of St. Gallen) Antonia Witt (Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung)

Discussant: Swantje Schirmer (GIGA)

Measuring Legitimacy Crises in Global Governance Thomas Sommerer (University of Stockholm)

Discussant: Tobias Lenz (GIGA)

15:15 | Tea & Coffee Break

15:45 | Panel 3 Chair: Tobias Lenz (GIGA)

Struggling for Legitimacy in Global Governance Institutions: The Case of African Union Reform Fredrik Söderbaum (University of Gothenburg)

Discussant: Niklas Krösche (GIGA)

The Legitimacy of International Organizations in the Context of Multipolarity: Preliminary Results from the AIIB and G20 Sinan Chu, Heike Holbig, Amrita Narlikar, and Johannes Plagemann (GIGA)

Discussant: Bernd Schlipphak (University of Muenster)

17:30 | Closing