Citizens, elites, and the legitimacy of global governance

Abstract

Assume that a citizen wants to write a postcard to public authorities about a global governance problem. Where exactly should it be posted? Should it be sent to one of the several international organizations (IOs) formally in charge of financial stability, development, health and security? Citizens, elites, and the legitimacy of global governance demonstrates that many individuals are aware of the activities of IOs, and it explores whether they are satisfied with how these institutions address transnational problems. It is often argued that IOs are underfinanced and have little political authority, yet they are burdened with responsibilities that they can hardly manage. The book tries to identify and quantify the expectations of the final users of IOs: the citizens of the world. Its findings will be relevant for scholars and students of global governance, IOs and social movements. The novelty of the book is that it moves away from advocacy to provide fresh quantitative evidence. To do that, the authors use two coordinated surveys. The first gathered responses from a sample of respondents in five countries: Brazil, Germany, the Philippines, Russia and the United States. The second survey, carried out by the book's authors themselves, focused on elites, which are defined as ‘people who hold leading positions in key organizations in society that strive to be politically influential’ (p. 13). Using the same questionnaire as in the first survey, the authors were able to compare the perceptions of elites and those of the broader public. The book offers key insights on the share of the relevant populations that is actually aware of the existence of IOs. This question is far from trivial: while it can be assumed that the public of each nation is familiar with the actions of their national governments, it is less probable that the same level of awareness exists about IOs, especially in countries with less developed information channels.