The Concept of Legitimacy in International Law

Abstract:     
Remarks at a workshop on "Legitimacy in International Law" held in June 2006 at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. The paper analyzes the relationship of legitimacy to legality and to self-interest; argues that much of the writing on legitimacy fails to distinguish adequately between normative and sociological legitimacy; observes that legitimacy is among the class of concepts that we can define with more confidence negatively than positively; and recommends analyzing the problem of legitimacy in a more differentiated, contextual way, focusing on how much authority an institution exercises, the nature of the issues it exercises authority over, and the type of authority it exercises.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 9

Keywords: Legitimacy, International Law

JEL Classification: K32, K33

Accepted Paper Series