Audiences of (De)Legitimation in Global Governance

Abstract

This chapter identifies types of audiences at which legitimation and delegitimation practices are directed in global governance. The concept of “audience” steers attention to processes of communication between those who seek to shape legitimacy perceptions and those whose perceptions would be shaped. (De)legitimation practices may have different implications for different audiences, and the chapter suggests that audiences play an active part in the performance of (de)legitimation in global governance. Two distinctions are introduced for classifying relationships between global governance institutions and the multitude of actors that may hold legitimacy beliefs about them, namely between constituencies and observers and between targeted and self-appointed audiences. Such categories can be used for the purpose of studying patterns and variation in legitimacy beliefs across actors.