Networks and Partnerships of Global Governance

Abstract

Recently, literature on the problem of legitimacy in/of global governance (GG) institutions, networks and/or partnerships has considerably increased. However, as we argue in this article, the problem of legitimacy, in what James Rosenau called post-international relations, has remained inadequately problematized. We suggest that GG lacks two specific types of legitimacy: legitimacy of GG as a theory and legitimacy of GG as a practice. One further – still critical – shortcoming within the current theoretical framework is that of undervaluing normativity as a larger context within which the debate on legitimacy(ies) is still being fueled. The article is divided into three sections. The first section briefly offers a conceptual introduction to the article’s terminology. Next, the second section attempts to bring the suggested multiplicity of GG’s legitimacies into analysis. Finally, the third section draws conclusions about the significant value of bringing normativity back to GG studies and how it matters to the question of legitimacy.