After Seattle: Public International Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and Democratic Legitimacy in an Era of Globalization: An Essay in Contested Legitimacy

Abstract:     
This working monograph (about 120,000 words) analyzes the relationship between public international organizations such as the United Nations system and international non-governmental organizations under conditions of globalization. It argues that international organizations and international NGOs are locked in an embrace of mutual legitimation, each giving the other important political legitimacy, in favor of liberal internationalism and at the expense of democratic sovereignty. The monograph argues that the legitimacy that each gives the other is based on flawed assumptions about the nature of civil society and "international civil society," on the one hand, and global governance and the possibilities of international, global democracy, on the other. It concludes by calling for a strengthening of democratic sovereignty as against liberal internationalism.

Keywords: International organizations, non-governmental organizations, NGOs, civil society, international civil society, legitimacy, globalization, democracy, international law, sovereignty, human rights, international elites, United Nations, World Bank, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, anti-globalization, new social movements

Working Paper Series