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Palgrave Macmillan

On Legitimacy in Global Governance

Concept, Criteria, and Application

  • Book
  • © 2024

Overview

Authors:
  1. Sören Hilbrich

    1. German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn, Germany

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  • Discusses normative criteria of legitimacy for global governance institutions
  • Develops a new concept of political legitimacy grounded in the all-affected principle
  • Analyzes the legitimacy of the G20 as an institution of global governance

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. Introduction

    • Sören Hilbrich
    Pages 1-29

  3. Legitimacy in Global Governance

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31
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    2. Subject and Concept of Legitimacy

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 33-60

    3. Legitimacy, Justice and Democracy

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 61-96

    4. The All-Affected Principle

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 97-115

    5. Towards a Standard of Legitimacy for Global Governance Institutions

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 117-148

  4. The G20

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 149-149
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    2. Nature and Functions of the G20

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 151-175

    3. The Legitimacy of the G20

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 177-212

    4. Conclusions

      • Sören Hilbrich
      Pages 213-218

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 219-222
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Keywords

About this book

Global governance has a major impact on the lives of people around the world. However, traditional theories of legitimacy were usually developed for states and are not suitable for the diversity of global governance institutions that exist today. This book first develops a normative concept of legitimacy that is applicable to all political institutions. According to this concept, to regard an institution as legitimate means ascribing it the right to exercise its function in political practice. Secondly, the book discusses how the use of this concept opens up new perspectives in the debate on legitimacy criteria for global governance institutions. In this context, the book analyses the relationship of legitimacy to the values of justice and democracy and discusses the role of feasibility constraints and the all-affected principle in legitimacy judgements. The concept of legitimacy as the right to function opens up the conceptual space to accommodate the insight that legitimacy criteriaare not the same for all global governance institutions, but depend on their function and context. Thirdly, the book applies the developed theoretical framework to a specific global governance institution, the G20.

Reviews

“Sören Hilbrich’s work on legitimacy and global governance is original, illuminating and very thorough in its discussion of the question of the nature of legitimacy for international institutions.  I am especially impressed with the in-depth discussion of the legitimacy of the G20.”—Thomas Christiano, University of Arizona



“Sören Hilbrich develops a conception of legitimacy as the right to function, which is applicable to all political institutions. The implication of this conceptually rich discussion is that we should not be too ambitious in our legitimacy standards for Global Governance institutions. This study is a remarkable achievement and is a must for those interested in International Political Theory.”

—Michael Zürn, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Authors and Affiliations

  • German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn, Germany

    Sören Hilbrich

About the author

Sören Hilbrich is a researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability in Bonn, Germany.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: On Legitimacy in Global Governance

  • Book Subtitle: Concept, Criteria, and Application

  • Authors: Sören Hilbrich

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54125-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-54124-7Published: 14 March 2024

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-54127-8Due: 14 April 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-54125-4Published: 13 March 2024

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 222

  • Topics: Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Political Theory

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