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On Legitimacy Crises and the Resources of Global Governance Institutions : A Surprisingly Weak Relationship?

Bes, Bart Joachim LU ; Sommerer, Thomas and Agné, Hans (2019) In Global Policy 10(3). p.313-326
Abstract

While scholars commonly assume that Global Governance Institutions (GGIs) need legitimacy to perform effectively, there are few systematic empirical studies assessing the consequences of legitimacy (or the lack thereof) for the functioning of GGIs. Inspired by the new institutionalism in organization theory, which predicts that more legitimate organizations will get more resources than illegitimate ones, we look into how legitimacy affects the resourcing of GGIs. We assess how crises of legitimacy affect the staff and financial resources of 21 GGIs from 1985 to 2015. Multivariate statistical analysis suggests that the effects of legitimacy crises on GGI resourcefulness are interesting but surprisingly weak, often GGI specific, and... (More)

While scholars commonly assume that Global Governance Institutions (GGIs) need legitimacy to perform effectively, there are few systematic empirical studies assessing the consequences of legitimacy (or the lack thereof) for the functioning of GGIs. Inspired by the new institutionalism in organization theory, which predicts that more legitimate organizations will get more resources than illegitimate ones, we look into how legitimacy affects the resourcing of GGIs. We assess how crises of legitimacy affect the staff and financial resources of 21 GGIs from 1985 to 2015. Multivariate statistical analysis suggests that the effects of legitimacy crises on GGI resourcefulness are interesting but surprisingly weak, often GGI specific, and dependent on time and the source of the challenge. Specifically, we find that elite criticisms of GGIs lead to deep resource cuts in the short and medium term, while the effect of mass protests takes longer. The paper concludes by setting an agenda for further theorizing and empirical testing of the consequences of legitimacy in global governance.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Global Policy
volume
10
issue
3
pages
14 pages
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85068080494
ISSN
1758-5880
DOI
10.1111/1758-5899.12685
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
54c68403-37e4-4372-a23d-760f54896f7d
date added to LUP
2019-07-11 09:53:37
date last changed
2022-04-26 03:20:48
@article{54c68403-37e4-4372-a23d-760f54896f7d,
  abstract     = {{<p>While scholars commonly assume that Global Governance Institutions (GGIs) need legitimacy to perform effectively, there are few systematic empirical studies assessing the consequences of legitimacy (or the lack thereof) for the functioning of GGIs. Inspired by the new institutionalism in organization theory, which predicts that more legitimate organizations will get more resources than illegitimate ones, we look into how legitimacy affects the resourcing of GGIs. We assess how crises of legitimacy affect the staff and financial resources of 21 GGIs from 1985 to 2015. Multivariate statistical analysis suggests that the effects of legitimacy crises on GGI resourcefulness are interesting but surprisingly weak, often GGI specific, and dependent on time and the source of the challenge. Specifically, we find that elite criticisms of GGIs lead to deep resource cuts in the short and medium term, while the effect of mass protests takes longer. The paper concludes by setting an agenda for further theorizing and empirical testing of the consequences of legitimacy in global governance.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bes, Bart Joachim and Sommerer, Thomas and Agné, Hans}},
  issn         = {{1758-5880}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{313--326}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Global Policy}},
  title        = {{On Legitimacy Crises and the Resources of Global Governance Institutions : A Surprisingly Weak Relationship?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12685}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1758-5899.12685}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}