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Legitimacy And Law-Making Alliances, Claire R. Kelly

Claire R. Kelly

Abstract Law-making institutions seek legitimacy to secure compliance with the norms that they generate. In the international setting this quest is made more difficult by the lack of both an identifiable public that international organizations represent and competing normative prescriptions for international law-making. In light of these obstacles, various legitimacy theories attempt to evaluate the law-generating efforts of international organizations. These theories consider whether the organizations are representative, inclusive, procedurally fair, or effective. Law-making organizations that satisfy the legitimacy criteria articulated in these theories can claim legitimacy and expect greater compliance as a result.

Although these theories are helpful, a …