International Crises of Legitimacy
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International Crises of Legitimacy Christian Reus-Smit Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
What is an international crisis of legitimacy? And how does one resolve such crises? This article addresses these conceptual issues, laying the theoretical foundations for the special issue as a whole. An actor or institution experiences a crisis of legitimacy, it is argued, when the level of social recognition that its identity, interests, practices, norms, or procedures are rightful declines to the point where it must either adapt (by reconstituting or recalibrating the social bases of its legitimacy, or by investing more heavily in material practices of coercion or bribery) or face disempowerment. International crises of legitimacy can be resolved only through recalibration, which necessarily involves the communicative reconciliation of the actor’s or institution’s social identity, interests, practices, norms, or procedures, with the normative expectations of other actors within its realm of political action. International Politics (2007) 44, 157–174. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ip.8800182 Keywords: legitimacy; power; crisis of legitimacy; resolution
Introduction For all of the talk of crises of legitimacy in contemporary world politics, there is surprisingly little reflection on what such crises are. And despite International Relations scholars’ newfound interest in questions of legitimacy, little attention has been given to the concept of international crises of legitimacy. What does it mean to speak of an international crisis of legitimacy, and how do we know one when we see one? This failure to grapple with the nature of legitimation crises has led to a concomitant failure to address the issue of crisis resolution. What does it mean to resolve an international crisis of legitimacy? Is it sufficient to suppress dissent or buy compliance, or does resolution demand something more? This article addresses these conceptual issues, laying the theoretical foundations for the following, more empirical chapters. Part One is devoted to the concept of legitimacy, and to the task of differentiating it from associated concepts, such as legitimate, legitimation, and legitimacy claim, and from other ethical values, principally order, justice, legality, and morality. Part Two explores the critical relationship between power and legitimacy, arguing
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that legitimacy is best conceived as a source of power, not a veil to power, as it is commonly described. Part Three confronts the central issue of what constitutes an international crisis of legitimacy. I suggest that an actor or an institution can be said to experience a crisis of legitimacy when the level of social recognition that its identity, interests, practices, norms, or procedures are rightful declines to the point where the actor or institution must either adapt (by reconstituti
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