Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T05:25:15.752Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The quest for legitimacy in world politics – international institutions’ legitimation strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2015

Jennifer Gronau  and
Henning Schmidtke
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article presents a top-down approach to the study of the empirical legitimacy of international institutions. It starts from the observation that international institutions’ representatives are engaged in various strategies aimed at cultivating generalised support. The article asserts that such strategies should be taken into account to gain deeper insights into the legitimation process of international institutions. To systematise these legitimation efforts and facilitate their empirical analysis, the article introduces the concept of legitimation strategies, which are defined as goal-oriented activities employed to establish and maintain a reliable basis of diffuse support. An analytical differentiation between three types of legitimation strategies is introduced depending on the addressees of legitimation strategies, that is, member state governments, international institutions’ staff, and the wider public. The applicability of the concept and the relevance of legitimation strategies for international institutions’ communication, behaviour, and institutional design is demonstrated by an empirical analysis of the G8’s and the IMF’s reaction to legitimation crises in the recent past of both institutions. In addition, the case studies suggest that a balanced set of legitimation strategies that takes into account the legitimacy concerns of all three constituencies is more likely to be successful in improving legitimacy perceptions.

Type
Articles
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , July 2016 , pp. 535 - 557
Copyright
© 2015 British International Studies Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This project was carried out at the TranState Research Centre 597, University of Bremen, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Additional financial support from the Global Democratic Governance Profile Area at the University of St. Gallen is gratefully acknowledged. We are especially grateful to Dominika Biegoń, who contributed to an earlier version of this article. We wish to thank the anonymous reviewers, Klaus Dingwerth, Matthias Ecker-Ehrhardt, Ulrich Franke, Anna Geis, Frank Nullmeier, and Dominik Zaum as well as the participants of various workshops for their valuable feedback and enriching discussions. The usual disclaimer applies.

References

1 Hooghe, Liesbet and Marks, Gary, ‘Delegation and pooling in international organizations’, Review of International Organizations, Online First: DOI: 10.1007/s11558-014-9194-4 (2014), pp. 1–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Zürn, Michael, Binder, Martin, and Ecker-Erhardt, Matthias, ‘International authority and its politicization’, International Theory, 4:1 (2012), pp. 69–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Reus-Smit, Christian, ‘International crises of legitimacy’, International Politics, 44:2 (2007), p. 164CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House Statement on Reform of International Institutions (London, 2008).

5 Brasset, James and Tsingou, Eleni, ‘The politics of legitimate global governance’, Review of International Political Economy, 18:1 (2011), pp. 1–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Clark, Ian and Reus-Smit, Christian, ‘Resolving international crises of legitimacy: Preface’, International Politics, 44:2 (2007), pp. 153–156CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Zaum, Dominik (ed.), Legitimating International Organizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Weber, Max, Economy and Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), p. 213Google Scholar.

7 We recognise the debate on the proper translation of Weber’s term ‘Herrschaft’. While some use the term ‘domination’, for example, Steffek, Jens, ‘The legitimation of international governance: a discourse approach’, European Journal of International Relations, 9:2 (2003), pp. 249–275CrossRefGoogle Scholar; we second Onuf’s translation as ‘rule’. See Onuf, Nicholas G., ‘Anarchy, authority, rule’, International Studies Quarterly, 33:2 (1989), pp. 149–173CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Hurd, Ian, ‘Legitimacy and authority in international politics’, International Organization, 53:2 (1999), pp. 379–408CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hurd, Ian, After Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power in the United Nations Security Council (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007)Google Scholar; Clark, Ian, Legitimacy in International Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)Google Scholar; Clark, Ian, International Legitimacy and World Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)Google Scholar.

9 Suchman, Mark, ‘Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches’, The Academy of Management Review, 20:3 (1995), pp. 571–610Google Scholar; Oelsner, Andrea, ‘The institutional identity of regional organizations, or Mercosur’s identity crisis’, International Studies Quarterly, 57:1 (2013), pp. 115–127CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Easton, David, A Systems Analysis of Political Life (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1965)Google Scholar; Easton, David, ‘A re-assessment of the concept of political support’, British Journal of Political Science, 5:4 (1975), pp. 435–457CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Beetham, David, The Legitimation of Power (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 1991), p. 7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Mulligan, Shane P., ‘Uses of legitimacy in international relations’, Millennium, 34:2 (2006), p. 362CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Brasset, and Tsingou, , ‘The politics of legitimate global governance’, p. 1Google Scholar; von Staden, Andreas, ‘Introduction to Special Issue: Towards greater interdisciplinarity in research on the legitimacy of global governance’, Swiss Political Science Review, 18:2 (2012), p. 149CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Clark and Reus-Smit, ‘Resolving international crises of legitimacy: Preface’.

14 Carr, E. H., The Twenty Years Crisis, 1919–1939 (New York: Harper & Row, 1939)Google Scholar; Claude, Inis, ‘Collective legitimization as a political function of the United Nations’, International Organization, 20:3 (1966), pp. 367–379CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 Buchanan, Allen and Keohane, Robert O., ‘The legitimacy of global governance institutions’, Ethics and International Affairs, 20:4 (2006), p. 405CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Barker, Rodney, Legitimating Identities: The Self-Presentation of Rulers and Subjects (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 See, for example, Held, David, Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995)Google Scholar; Pogge, Thomas W., Politics as Usual: What Lies Behind the Pro-Poor Rhetoric (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)Google Scholar.

18 See, for example, Dahl, Robert A., ‘Can international organizations be democratic? A skeptic’s view’, in Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker-Cordón (eds), Democracy’s Edges (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 19–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Keohane, Robert O., Macedo, Stephen, and Moravcsik, Andrew, ‘Democracy-enhancing multilateralism’, International Organization, 63:1 (2009), pp. 1–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 Weber, Economy and Society.

20 Schneider, Steffen, Hurrelmann, Achim, Krell-Laluhová, Zuzana, Nullmeier, Frank, and Wiesner, Achim, Democracy’s Deep Roots (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010), p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 Steffek, , ‘The legitimation of international governance’, p. 253Google Scholar.

22 Clark, , Legitimacy in International Society, p. 79Google Scholar.

23 Scholte, Jan Aart, ‘Towards greater legitimacy in global governance’, Review of International Political Economy, 18:1 (2011), p. 111CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 Hurd, , ‘Legitimacy and authority in international politics’, p. 403Google Scholar; Hurrell, Andrew, ‘International society and the study of regimes’, in Volker Rittberger and Peter Mayer (eds), Regime Theory and International Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 49–72Google Scholar.

25 Henkin, Louis, How Nations Behave: Law and Foreign Policy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), p. 47Google Scholar.

26 Bodansky, Daniel, ‘The legitimacy of international governance: a coming challenge for international environmental law?’, American Journal of International Law, 93:2 (1999), pp. 596–624CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Franck, Thomas M., The Power of Legitimacy Among Nations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990)Google Scholar.

27 Porta, Donatella Della and Tarrow, Sidney G. (eds), Transnational Protest and Global Activism (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)Google Scholar; Zürn, Binder, and Ecker-Erhardt, ‘International authority and its politicization’; O’Brien, Robert, Goetz, Anne Marie, Scholte, Jan Aart, and Williams, Marc, Contesting Global Governance: Multilateral Economic Institutions and Global Social Movements (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Clark, International Legitimacy and World Society.

29 Steffek, Jens, ‘Legitimacy in International Relations: From state compliance to citizen consensus’, in Achim Hurrelmann, Steffen Schneider, and Jens Steffek (eds), Legitimacy in an Age of Global Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007), pp. 188–189Google Scholar; Dellmuth, Lisa M. and Tallberg, Jonas, ‘The social legitimacy of international organizations: Interest representation, institutional performance, and confidence extrapolation in the United Nations’, Review of International Studies, 41:3 (2014), pp. 451–475CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Our definition of international institutions broadly includes regional and global organisation, clubs of governance, regimes, and networks governed by formal international agreements.

31 Offe, Claus, ‘Political disaffection as an outcome of institutional practices? Some post-Tocquevillian speculations’, in Mariano Torcal and José Ramón Montero (eds), Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies: Social Capital, Institutions, and Politics (London: Routledge, 2006), p. 26Google Scholar.

32 Hurrelmann, Achim, Schneider, Steffen, and Steffek, Jens (eds), Legitimacy in an Age of Global Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007), p. 8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Brasset and Tsingou, ‘The politics of legitimate global governance’.

34 Beetham, The Legitimation of Power, ch. 4.

35 Weber, , Economy and Society, p. 213Google Scholar, emphasis added.

36 Reus-Smit, , ‘International crises of legitimacy’, p. 159Google Scholar.

37 Easton, , A Systems Analysis of Political Life, pp. 166–167Google Scholar.

38 Hurd, , ‘Legitimacy and authority in international politics’, p. 388Google Scholar.

39 Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life; Booth, John A. and Seligson, Mitchell A., The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America: Political Support and Democracy in Eight Nations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Norris, Pippa, Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 Weber, , Economy and Society, pp. 212–213Google Scholar.

41 Easton, , A Systems Analysis of Political Life, p. 273Google Scholar.

42 Hurd, , ‘Legitimacy and authority in international politics’, p. 387Google Scholar.

43 Reus-Smit, , ‘International crises of legitimacy’, p. 164Google Scholar.

44 Note that Easton explicitly understands even the weak international institutions of his time as political structures to which the concept of legitimacy can be applied and which are in need of legitimacy (Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life, p. 284).

45 Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life, chs 11–12.

46 Easton, , ‘A re-assessment of the concept of political support’, p. 437Google Scholar.

47 United Nations, ‘UNiTE to End Violence Against Women’ (New York: UN Departement of Public Information, 2010).

48 European Commission, EU Agencies, ‘Whatever You Do, We Work For You (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007).

49 Nelson, Stephen C. and Weaver, Catherine, ‘The cultures of international organizations’, in Jacob Katz Cogan, Ian Hurd, and Ian Johnston (eds), Oxford Handbook of International Organizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015)Google Scholar.

50 Oelsner, , ‘The institutional identity of regional organizations, or Mercosur’s identity crisis’, pp. 115–119Google Scholar.

51 Reus-Smit, , ‘International crises of legitimacy’, p. 167Google Scholar.

52 Nullmeier, Frank, Geis, Anna, and Daase, Christopher, ‘Der Aufstieg der Legitimationspolitik: Rechtfertigung und Kritik politisch-ökonomischer Ordnungen’, Leviathan, 40:27 (2012), p. 24Google Scholar; Halliday, Terence C., Block-Lieb, Susan, and Carruthers, Bruce G., ‘Rethorical legitimation: Global scripts as strategic devices of international organizations’, Socio-Economic Review, 8:1 (2010), pp. 77–112CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Zaum, (ed.), Legitimating International Organizations, p. 224Google Scholar.

54 Abbott, Kenneth and Snidal, Duncan, ‘Strengthening international regulation through transnational new governance: Overcoming the orchestration deficit’, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 42:2 (2009), pp. 501–578Google Scholar.

55 Barnett, Michael and Finnemore, Martha, ‘The politics, power and pathologies of international organizations’, International Organization, 53:4 (1999), p. 718CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tallberg, Jonas, Sommerer, Thomas, Squatrito, Theresa, and Jönsson, Christer, The Opening Up of International Organizations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Oelsner, , ‘The institutional identity of regional organizations, or Mercosur’s identity crisis’, p. 117Google Scholar.

56 Zaum, Dominik, ‘Conclusion’, in Dominik Zaum (ed.), International Organizations, Legitimacy, and Legitimation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 227CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 Clark, International Legitimacy and World Society, p. 185; Hurrell, Andrew, ‘Legitimacy and the use of force: Can the circle be squared?’, Review of International Studies, 31:1 (2005), p. 24Google Scholar.

58 For a critical discussion of this state-centric perspective see, Steffek, ‘Legitimacy in international relations’.

59 Suchman, , ‘Managing legitimacy’, p. 585Google Scholar.

60 For a similar argument see, Seabrooke, Leonard, ‘Legitimacy gaps in the world economy: Explaining the sources of the IMF’s legitimacy crisis’, International Politics, 44:2 (2007), p. 254CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61 See, for example, Hurd, , ‘Legitimacy and authority in international politics’, p. 401Google Scholar.

62 Steffek, , ‘Legitimacy in international relations’, p. 175Google Scholar.

63 Hawkins, Darren G., Lake, David A., Nielson, Daniel L., and Tierney, Michael J. (eds), Delegation and Agency in International Organizations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

64 Abbott, Kenneth and Snidal, Duncan, ‘Why states act through formal international organizations’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 42:1 (1998), pp. 3–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

65 Gelpi, Christopher, The Power of Legitimacy: Assessing the Role of Norms in Crisis Bargaining (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003)Google Scholar.

66 Gutner, Tamar and Thompson, Alexander, ‘The politics of IO performance: a framework’, Review of International Organizations, 5:3 (2010), p. 228CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

67 Buchanan, and Keohane, , ‘The legitimacy of global governance institutions’, p. 422Google Scholar; Eckersley, Robyn, ‘Ambushed: the Kyoto Protocol, the Bush Administration’s Climate Policy and the erosion of legitimacy’, International Politics, 44:2 (2007), pp. 306–324CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68 Barnett, Michael and Finnemore, Martha, Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004), p. 5Google Scholar.

69 Trondal, Jarle, Marcussen, Martin, Larsson, Torbjörn, and Veggeland, Forde, Unpacking International Organizations (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010), p. 5Google Scholar.

70 Hajnal, Peter I., The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp. 71–73Google Scholar.

71 Consequently, national civil servants being in charge of the G8 and the G20 are the addressees of legitimation strategies of both national governments and the international institution’s chairs. This dual position has been confirmed during our interview with the head of the British G8 Sherpa team in 2013.

72 Weber, , Economy and Society, p. 212Google Scholar.

73 Ibid., p. 213. Although not discussed explicitly by Easton (A Systems Analysis of Political Life, p. 154), who does not specify the relevant constituencies of legitimation, we claim that the diffuse support for international institutions by their staff members – for instance backed by the belief in the rationality and legality of bureaucracies – is an important element of their legitimacy.

74 Suchman, , ‘Managing legitimacy’, p. 574Google Scholar.

75 Barker, , ‘Legitimating Identities’, pp. 31Google Scholar, 42.

76 Exceptions are Barnett and Finnemore, Rules for the World; Trondal, Marcussen, Larsson, and Veggeland, Unpacking International Organizations.

77 Nelson and Weaver, ‘The cultures of international organizations’.

78 Schön-Quinlivan, Emannuelle, ‘Implementing organizational change – the case of the Kinnick reforms’, Journal of European Public Policy, 15:5 (2008), pp. 726–742CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the IMF see, Momani, Bessma, ‘IMF staff: Missing link in fund reform proposals’, Review of International Organizations, 2:1 (2007), pp. 39–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

79 Oelsner, ‘The institutional identity of regional organizations, or Mercosur’s identity crisis’.

80 Johnstone, Ian, ‘The role of the UN Secretary-General: the power of persuasion based on law’, Global Governance, 9:4 (2003), pp. 441–458Google Scholar.

81 Clark, , International Legitimacy and World Society, p. 14Google Scholar.

82 Cerutti, Furio, ‘The deeper roots of legitimacy and its future’, Review of International Political Economy, 18:1 (2011), p. 124CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

83 On widely excepted norms of legitimate authority see for instance, Keohane, Robert O., ‘Global governance and legitimacy’, Review of International Political Economy, 18:1 (2011), pp. 99–109CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

84 Zürn, Binder, and Ecker-Erhardt, ‘International authority and its politicization’; Nullmeier, Frank, Biegoń, Dominika, Gronau, Jennifer, Nonhoff, Martin, Schmidtke, Henning, and Schneider, Steffen, Prekäre Legitimitäten: Rechtfertigung von Herrschaft in der postnationalen Konstellation (Frankfurt aM: Campus, 2010)Google Scholar.

85 Abbott, Kenneth, Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Bernhard Zangl (eds), International Organizations as Orchestrators (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)Google Scholar.

86 Tallberg, Sommerer, Squatrito, and Jönsson, The Opening Up of International Organizations; Hüller, Thorsten, ‘Assessing EU strategies for publicity’, Journal of European Public Policy, 14:4 (2007), pp. 563–581CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Steffek, Jens, Kissling, Claudia, and Nanz, Patrizia (eds), Emergent Patterns of Civil Society Participation in Global and European Governance: A Cure for the Democratic Deficit? (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Grigorescu, Alexandru, Democratic Intergovernmental Organizations? Normative Pressures and Decision-Making Rules (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

87 Pallas, Christopher L. and Urpelainen, Johannes, ‘NGO monitoring and the legitimacy of international cooperation: a strategic analysis’, Review of International Organizations, 7:1 (2012), pp. 1–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

88 See also Seabrooke, , ‘Legitimacy gaps in the world economy’, p. 254Google Scholar.

89 Haunss, Sebastian, ‘Challenging legitimacy: Repertoires of contention, political claims-making, and collective action frames’, in Achim Hurrelmann, Steffen Schneider, and Jens Steffek (eds), Legitimacy in an Age of Global Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007), pp. 156–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Della Porta and Tarrow, Transnational Protest and Global Activism.

90 Schneider, Hurrelmann, Krell-Laluhová, Nullmeier, and Wiesner, Democracy’s Deep Roots; Koopmans, Ruud and Statham, Paul (eds), The Making of a European Public Sphere (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

91 As indicated by increasingly negative public communication and rising protest numbers. See, Gronau, Jennifer and Schneider, Steffen, ‘Metaphorical concepts in the construction of international legitimacy’, Political Concepts Committee on Concepts and Methods, IPSA Working Paper Series, 37 (2009), pp. 1–27Google Scholar; Gronau, Jennifer, Nonhoff, Martin, and Nullmeier, Frank, ‘Spiele ohne Brot: Die Legitimitätskrise der G8’, Leviathan, 37:1 (2009), pp. 117–143CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

92 Laurence Norman, ‘UK Mandelson: “The Era of the G8 is Over”’, Wall Street Journal (25 March 2009).

93 White House, ‘Fact Sheet: Creating a 21st Century International Economic Architecture’, available at: {http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Fact-Sheet-Creating-a-21st-Century-International-Economic-Architecture} accessed 30 June 2015.

94 Larry Elliot, ‘If the G8 is to survive it’, Guardian (8 July 2009).

95 Gronau, Jennifer, Die Selbstlegitimation internationaler Institutionen: Die G8 und die G20 im Vergleich (Frankfurt aM: Campus, 2015), pp. 269Google Scholar, 336.

96 Gronau, Nonhoff, and Nullmeier, ‘Spiele ohne Brot’.

97 Hajnal, , The G8 System and the G20, pp. 30–32Google Scholar.

98 David Cameron quoted in: Patrick Wintour, ‘Cameron plans to downgrade G8 summit’, Guardian (29 July 2010).

99 US Department of State, ‘Final Update on the U.S. G-8 Presidency’, available at: {http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/202643.pdf} accessed 30 June 2015.

100 UK Government, ‘Trade, Tax & Transparency. The 2013 UK G8 Presidency Report’, available at: {https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/271676/G8_report_WEB_FINAL.PDF} accessed 30 June 2015.

101 G8, ‘Muskoka Declaration 2010: Recovery and New Beginnings. June 26 2012’, available at: {http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/2010muskoka/communique.html} accessed 30 June 2015, § 2.

102 Interview with German Sherpa team, 3 July 2012.

103 Interview with Head of British G8 Sherpa team, 12 December 2013.

104 David Cameron quoted in: Wintour, Patrick, ‘G8 summit: Trade deal can rescue world from recession, says PM: Tie-ups sought between EU, US, Canada and Japan: First talks with Hollande after Cameron backed rival’, Guardian (18 May 2012)Google Scholar.

105 ‘The next summit. The results of gatherings of the G8 usually fall short of the expectations generated in advance: That does not mean they are a waste of time’, Times (26 June 2010).

106 ‘G8 should seize initiative and listen to the pope’, Times (10 July 2009).

107 Interview with Head of British G8 Sherpa team, 12 December 2013.

108 Broome, André, ‘The International Monetary Fund, crisis management and the credit crunch’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 64:1 (2010), p. 43CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

109 Joyce, Joseph R., The IMF and Global Financial Crises: A Phoenix Rising? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), pp. 154Google Scholar; 173–7.

110 As indicated by our protest event data analysis for the period between 1996 and 2004, the IMF was the target of a series of riots in debtor countries such as South Korea, Jordan, Bulgaria, Mexico, and South Africa.

111 Our analysis of news agencies coverage on the IMF shows that public attention doubled during the crisis.

112 Anklesaria Swaminathan Aiyar, ‘The growing irrelevance of the IMF’, Economic Times (21 April 2009).

113 Nooruddin, Irfan and Woo, Byungwon, ‘Heeding the sirens: the politics of IMF program participations’, Political Science Research and Methods, 3:1 (2014), pp. 73–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

114 Brown, Robert L., ‘Measuring delegation’, Review of International Organizations, 5:2 (2010), pp. 141–175CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

115 IMF, Annual Report 2010: Supporting a Balanced Global Recovery (Washington, DC: IMF, 2010), p. 205.

116 ‘Short shrift for the world’s highly indebted countries’, Guardian (5 October 1998).

117 Joyce, , The IMF and Global Financial Crises, p. 119Google Scholar; O’Brien, Goetz, Scholte, and Williams, Contesting Global Governance, ch. 5.

118 Burgess, John, ‘At IMF headquarters embattled staffers wonder “why us?”’, Washington Post (13 April 2000)Google Scholar.

119 ‘Valid questions on the new economy’, Washington Post (14 April 2000).

120 Crace, John, ‘Resources – inside the news – sinking into poverty’, Guardian (29 September 1998)Google Scholar.

121 Kahn, Joseph and Kifner, John, ‘World trade officials pledging to step up effort against AIDS’, New York Times (18 April 2000)Google Scholar.

122 ‘The protesters and the bank’, New York Times (18 April 2000).

123 Mann, Judy, ‘Don’t ignore the protesters’, Washington Post (19 April 2000)Google Scholar.

124 Boustany, Nora, ‘In defense of the protesters – and the World Bank’, Washington Post (19 April 2000)Google Scholar.

125 Burgess, ‘At IMF headquarters embattled staffers wonder “why us?”’.

126 IMF, Annual Report 2000 (Washington, DC: IMF, 2000), p. 28; IMF, Annual Report 2001 (Washington, DC: IMF, 2001), pp. 81, 91.

127 IEO, ‘Home’, available at: {http://www.ieo-imf.org/ieo/pages/ieohome.aspx} accessed 30 June 2015.

128 Seabrooke, , ‘Legitimacy gaps in the world economy’, p. 262Google Scholar.

129 Best, Jacqueline, ‘Legitimacy dilemmas: the IMF’s pursuit of country ownership’, Third World Quarterly, 28:3 (2007), p. 480CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

130 Interview with IMF executive director as quoted in: O’Brien, Goetz, Scholte, and Williams, Contesting Global Governance, p. 187.

131 Burgess, ‘At IMF headquarters embattled staffers wonder “why us?”’.

132 IMF, Annual Report 2001, p. 35.

133 IMF, Annual Report 1999 (Washington, DC: IMF, 1999), pp. 177–8.

134 IMF, Annual Report 1999, p. 43; IMF, Annual Report 2001, p. 83.

135 Interview with IMF Executive director as quoted in: O’Brien, Goetz, Scholte, and Williams, Contesting Global Governance, p. 187.

136 IMF, Annual Report 2010: Supporting a Balanced Global Recovery, p. 5.

137 Chwieroth, Jeffrey M., Capital Ideas (Princetown: Princetown University Press, 2010), p. 12Google Scholar.

138 IMF, Annual Report 1999, p. 119.

139 IMF, Annual Report 2001, p. 81.

140 This reaction exemplifies our distinction between legitimation strategies and other activities tailored to create less durable specific support. In essence, the reduction of stress addressed individual cost-benefit calculations but ignored normative concerns of staff members.

141 IMF, Annual Report 2000, p. 96.

142 Seabrooke, ‘Legitimacy gaps in the world economy’, pp. 263–4.

143 This was even acknowledged by the Fund (IMF, The IMF and Civil Society Organizations: Striking a Balance (Washington, DC: IMF, 2001)).

144 Moschella, Manuela, ‘IMF surveillance in crisis: the past, present and future of the reform process’, Global Society, 26:1 (2012), p. 51CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

145 O’Brien, Goetz, Scholte, and Williams, Contesting Global Governance, ch. 5.

146 As quoted in: O’Brien, Goetz, Scholte, and Williams, Contesting Global Governance, p. 178.

147 O’Brien, Goetz, Scholte, and Williams, Contesting Global Governance, p. 187.

148 IMF, Report of the Group of Independent Persons Appointed to Conduct an Evaluation of Certain Aspects of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (Washington, DC: IMF, 1998), p. 24.

149 Momani, ‘IMF staff’, p. 40.

150 As indicated by our protest event data analysis for the period between 1996 and 2004.

151 Hardstaff, Peter, Mukarji, Daleep, Richards, Louise, Sinha, Ashok, and Wilks, Alex, ‘“Double standard” on IMF leader’, Guardian (3 April 2004)Google Scholar; Dieter, Heribert, ‘The decline of the IMF: Is it reversible? Should it be reversed?’, Global Governance, 12:4 (2006), pp. 343–349Google Scholar; Eichengreen, Barry, ‘A blueprint for IMF reform: More than just a lender’, International Finance, 10:2 (2007), pp. 153–175CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

152 George Monbiot, ‘Don’t be fooled by this reform: the IMF is still the rich world’s viceroy: What will be passed off as a democratisation is in fact a way of ensuring the poor global majority continue to have no say’, Guardian (5 September 2006).

153 Barnett and Finnemore, ‘The politics, power and pathologies of international organizations’; Hawkins, Lake, Nielson, and Tierney (eds), Delegation and Agency in International Organizations; Abbott, Kenneth, Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Zangl, Bernhard (eds), International Organizations as Orchestrators (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)Google Scholar.

154 Morse, Julia C. and Keohane, Robert O., ‘Contested multilateralism’, Review of International Organizations, 9:4 (2014), pp. 385–412CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

155 Gronau, Die Selbstlegitimation internationaler Institutionen.

156 Seabrooke, Leonard, ‘Everday legitimacy and institutional change’, in Andreas Gofas and Colin Hay (eds), The Role of Ideas in Political Analysis (London: Routledge, 2010), pp. 78–94Google Scholar; Tallberg, Sommerer, Squatrito, and Jönsson, The Opening Up of International Organizations.

157 Nullmeier, Geis, and Daase, ‘Der Aufstieg der Legitimationspolitik: Rechtfertigung und Kritik politisch-ökonomischer Ordnungen’, p. 29.