Explaining Citizen Legitimacy Beliefs Toward International Organizations

• In Event: Citizen Opinion on International Cooperation

Abstract

This paper examines the factors that determine citizen legitimacy beliefs toward international organizations (IOs). It explores the observable implications of four large theories in public opinion formation toward international politics, pertaining to citizen’s socio-economic status, geographical identification, political values, and domestic institutional trust. The chapter uses data from five countries in the WVS7 – Brazil, Germany, the Philippines, Russia, and the U.S. – to assess the determinants of citizen legitimacy beliefs toward six IOs in different issue areas: the International Criminal Court, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, World Bank, World Health Organization, and World Trade Organization. This analysis goes well beyond previous studies of public opinion toward IOs, which have tended to focus on individual IOs, most often the EU. The central finding is that citizens’ legitimacy beliefs toward IOs are shaped, first and foremost, by their trust in domestic political institutions. When citizens have greater trust in domestic political institutions, they also tend to conceive of IOs as more legitimate. In addition, the socio-economic status and political values of citizens matter in some countries in relation to some IOs. These findings have implications for the understanding of public opinion formation toward IOs, as well as domestic constraints on international cooperation.

Authors

• Lisa Maria Dellmuth, Stockholm University

• Jan Aart Scholte, University of Gothenburg

• Jonas Tallberg, Stockholm University

• Soetkin Verhaegen, UCLouvain