| Abstract: | Global governance organizations (GGOs) are frequently malignedas both illegitimate and ineffective. With the growing prominenceof entities that promulgate global rules governing trade, communications,finance, and transport, these shortcomings take on greater importance.This essay presents a theoretical framework to understand thechallenge of legitimacy for GGOs. It argues that GGOs tend toface trade-offs between legitimacy and authority, but that widespreadusages of these important terms conflate or confuse them andthus obscure critical issues in GGO politics. Once these termsare more clearly defined, we see more easily that GGOs mustsometimes violate democratic norms, sacrificing equality andbureaucratic neutrality, to satisfy key constituencies and thusretain power. The argument lays the foundation for an empiricalstudy that demonstrates how the structure and processes adoptedby GGOs are intended to satisfy the conflicting demands of legitimacyand authority. |
