The Uses of Legitimacy in International Relations

Abstract

The concept of legitimacy has long held a central place in political thought, but only in recent years have scholars started to look closely at questions of legitimacy in international affairs. Yet the literature now abounds with enquiries into the legitimacy of particular regimes, of humanitarian intervention and other forms of violence, and of various international institutions, including international law itself. These questions take many forms, as it is not simply the criteria, but also the very meaning of legitimacy that is contested—yet through these various meanings, certain continuities of use can be seen. As an application of Wittgenstein's analyses of `language games', a conceptual history of legitimacy can help to show the forms of these continuities, and also help us to understand the range of conceptual affiliates the term has picked up along the way, from legality to popular approval to moral appropriateness. Looking at contemporary uses of the term in IR, we can see how these ambiguous associations often intrude on one another, such that the concept evokes a significance greater than that which is claimed for it. This conceptual encroachment contributes to specific effects of the use of legitimacy, in terms of the way international politics can be represented and perceived. This leads to a recommendation that, if the concept of legitimacy is to become as relevant to global politics as it is in theories of the state, it is vital that IR theorists be more attentive to these practical implications of their conceptual (re)constructions.