Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2018.1476463
Exports for your reference manager
Legitimacy Deficits of International Organizations: design, drift, and decoupling at the UN Security Council
[journal article]
Abstract Despite ubiquitous calls for their reform, international organizations (IOs) often suffer from legitimacy deficits. What explains the emergence of legitimacy deficits and what effects do they produce? This article discusses the gradual emergence of legitimacy deficits through the concept of legitima... view more
Despite ubiquitous calls for their reform, international organizations (IOs) often suffer from legitimacy deficits. What explains the emergence of legitimacy deficits and what effects do they produce? This article discusses the gradual emergence of legitimacy deficits through the concept of legitimacy drift. Legitimacy drift occurs when an organization loses legitimacy by failing to adapt itself to a changing environment. It identifies three sources of legitimacy drift: failure to live up to pre-existing standards (broken promises), changes in the standards of legitimacy by which organizations are assessed (shifting standards), and changes in an organization’s relevant public (audience shift). Legitimacy deficits typically prompt organizational responses. These include attempts at re-legitimation through institutional reform and operational adaptation, but also other ‘coping mechanisms’ such as promises of reform, the logic of confidence, and decoupling. Coping mechanisms are especially important where reform is blocked. This model is illustrated by the history of the United Nations Security Council, one of the oldest and most powerful IOs. A conclusion calls for bridging historical and sociological institutionalism to better understand IO legitimacy in time.... view less
Keywords
international organization; UN Security Council; legitimacy; institutionalism
Classification
International Relations, International Politics, Foreign Affairs, Development Policy
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 96-121
Journal
Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 31 (2018) 1
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/179955
ISSN
1474-449X
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed