IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bsl/wpaper/2017-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Towards a More Nuanced Understanding of How International Pooling of Authority May Affect the Perceived Legitimacy of Global Governance

Author

Listed:
  • Anderson, Brilé
  • Bernauer, Thomas
  • Kachi, Aya

    (University of Basel)

Abstract

Recent instances of political backlash against global governance efforts as well as conventional wisdom suggest that there is a link between shifting authority from the domestic to the global level, on the one hand, and the legitimacy of global governance institutions as perceived by citizens and other stakeholders on the other. We thus investigate whether and how increasing the authority of a global governance institution affects citizens' legitimacy perceptions, using a population-based survey experiment in Germany and the United States (N=1600 each). The empirical focus is on climate change, a costly and paradigmatic global governance effort. The results show that certain shifts of political authority, such as changes to majority decision making at the international level and automatic implementation of international decisions domestically, do not significantly affect "average" citizens' legitimacy perceptions of global governance institutions. This result is not due to citizens' incapacity to understand the implications of increasing authority, namely, that increasing authority results in a loss of control over climate policy in Germany and the United States. Rather, legitimacy perceptions appear to be shaped by citizens' perceptions of procedural and performance quality of such efforts as well as by their level of cognitive mobilization, namely their interest in international politics. In brief, we find that citizens relate perceived procedural and performance quality of global governance with their evaluation of its legitimacy, but that subtle shifts of authority from the domestic to the global level do not per se affect citizens' legitimacy perceptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Anderson, Brilé & Bernauer, Thomas & Kachi, Aya, 2017. "Towards a More Nuanced Understanding of How International Pooling of Authority May Affect the Perceived Legitimacy of Global Governance," Working papers 2017/16, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    • Handle: RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2017/16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://edoc.unibas.ch/61302/1/20180306095400_5a9e5728e4968.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rolf Lidskog & Ingemar Elander, 2010. "Addressing climate change democratically. Multi-level governance, transnational networks and governmental structures," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 32-41.
    2. Martin Edwards, 2009. "Public support for the international economic organizations: Evidence from developing countries," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 185-209, June.
    3. Grant, Ruth W. & Keohane, Robert O., 2005. "Accountability and Abuses of Power in World Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99(1), pages 29-43, February.
    4. Shively, W. Phillips, 1979. "The Development of Party Identification among Adults: Exploration of a Functional Model," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(4), pages 1039-1054, December.
    5. Joeri Rogelj & Malte Meinshausen & Reto Knutti, 2012. "Global warming under old and new scenarios using IPCC climate sensitivity range estimates," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 248-253, April.
    6. Esty, Daniel C., 2002. "The World Trade Organization's legitimacy crisis," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 7-22, March.
    7. Hooghe, Liesbet & Marks, Gary, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, 2015. "Delegation and pooling in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 305-328, September.
    9. Matthew Gabel & Kenneth Scheve, 2007. "Estimating the Effect of Elite Communications on Public Opinion Using Instrumental Variables," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(4), pages 1013-1028, October.
    10. Margaret Levi & Gillian H. Murphy, 2006. "Coalitions of Contention: The Case of the WTO Protests in Seattle," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54, pages 651-670, December.
    11. Tana Johnson, 2011. "Guilt by association: The link between states’ influence and the legitimacy of intergovernmental organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 57-84, March.
    12. Bernd Schlipphak, 2015. "Measuring attitudes toward regional organizations outside Europe," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 351-375, September.
    13. Margaret Levi & Gillian H. Murphy, 2006. "Coalitions of Contention: The Case of the WTO Protests in Seattle," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(4), pages 651-670, December.
    14. Radoslav S. Dimitrov, 2010. "Inside Copenhagen: The State of Climate Governance," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 10(2), pages 18-24, May.
    15. Caldeira, Gregory A. & Gibson, James L., 1995. "The Legitimacy of the Court of Justice in the European Union: Models of Institutional Support," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(2), pages 356-376, June.
    16. Daniel Blake & Autumn Payton, 2015. "Balancing design objectives: Analyzing new data on voting rules in intergovernmental organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 377-402, September.
    17. Caplan, Bryan, 2001. "Rational Irrationality and the Microfoundations of Political Failure," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 107(3-4), pages 311-331, June.
    18. Adam William Chalmers & Lisa Maria Dellmuth, 2015. "Fiscal redistribution and public support for European integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(3), pages 386-407, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brilé Anderson & Thomas Bernauer & Aya Kachi, 2019. "Does international pooling of authority affect the perceived legitimacy of global governance?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 661-683, December.
    2. Jonas Tallberg & Michael Zürn, 2019. "The legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations: introduction and framework," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 581-606, December.
    3. Lisa Maria Dellmuth & Jonas Tallberg, 2020. "Why national and international legitimacy beliefs are linked: Social trust as an antecedent factor," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 311-337, April.
    4. Thomas Bernauer & Steffen Mohrenberg & Vally Koubi, 2020. "Do citizens evaluate international cooperation based on information about procedural and outcome quality?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 505-529, April.
    5. Mujtaba Isani & Bernd Schlipphak, 2017. "The Desire for Sovereignty – An Explanation of EU Attitudes in the Arab World," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 502-517, May.
    6. Jean-Marc Siroën, 2016. "L'OMC face à la crise des négociations multilatérales," Working Papers hal-01399859, HAL.
    7. Adela Toscano-Valle & Antonio Sianes & Francisco Santos-Carrillo & Luis A. Fernández-Portillo, 2022. "Can the Rational Design of International Institutions Solve Cooperation Problems? Insights from a Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Thomas Sommerer & Theresa Squatrito & Jonas Tallberg & Magnus Lundgren, 2022. "Decision-making in international organizations: institutional design and performance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 815-845, October.
    9. Michael Zürn & Alexandros Tokhi & Martin Binder, 2021. "The International Authority Database," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442, September.
    10. Adam William Chalmers & Lisa Maria Dellmuth, 2015. "Fiscal redistribution and public support for European integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(3), pages 386-407, September.
    11. Ecker-Ehrhardt, Matthias, 2013. "Why do they want the UN to decide? A two-step model of public support for UN authority," TranState Working Papers 171, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    12. Johannes Urpelainen, 2012. "How Does Democratic Accountability Shape International Cooperation?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(1), pages 28-55, February.
    13. Rauh, Christian, 2022. "Clear messages to the European public? The language of European Commission press releases 1985–2020," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-19.
    14. Zürn, Michael & Tokhi, Alexandros & Binder, Martin, 2021. "The International Authority Database," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442.
    15. Axel Dreher & Katharina Michaelowa, 2008. "The political economy of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 331-334, December.
    16. Bernd Schlipphak, 2015. "Measuring attitudes toward regional organizations outside Europe," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 351-375, September.
    17. Stefan Telle & Lisanne de Blok & Catherine E. de Vries & Lorenzo Cicchi, 2022. "Elite‐Mass Linkages in the Preference Formation on Differentiated Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(6), pages 1663-1683, November.
    18. Rauh, Christian & Zürn, Michael, 2020. "Authority, politicization, and alternative justifications: endogenous legitimation dynamics in global economic governance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 583-611.
    19. Tobias Lenz & Besir Ceka & Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks & Alexandr Burilkov, 2023. "Discovering cooperation: Endogenous change in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 631-666, October.
    20. Bernd Schlipphak & Paul Meiners & Osman Sabri Kiratli, 2022. "Crisis affectedness, elite cues and IO public legitimacy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 877-898, October.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2017/16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: WWZ (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wwzbsch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.