What legitimacy problems do NGOs experience, when they participate extensively in global governance processes？ What do these problems mean for the input-legitimacy of the governance process？ In this paper the author...What legitimacy problems do NGOs experience, when they participate extensively in global governance processes？ What do these problems mean for the input-legitimacy of the governance process？ In this paper the author seeks to answer these questions by looking closely at the UN World Summit on the Information Society （WSIS）, focusing specifically on one of its multi-stakeholder working groups, the Working Group on Internet Governance （WGIG）. This working group provided NGOs with some outstanding possibilities for participation to enable them to contribute to the formulation of the WSIS policy outcomes. Yet, the wide participation of NGOs had ambiguous effects for their internal legitimacy. The author will argue that these legitimacy problems in turn challenged the input-legitimacy of the governance process, particularly because they reduced the variety of issues that NGOs brought into the governance process. The most deeply included NGO actors were inclined to adapt their demands to the necessities of the governance process. The empirical findings from the WSIS thus suggest that the democratizing reforms international organizations currently undertake reduce the legitimizing power that NGOs are often assigned with.展开更多
文摘What legitimacy problems do NGOs experience, when they participate extensively in global governance processes？ What do these problems mean for the input-legitimacy of the governance process？ In this paper the author seeks to answer these questions by looking closely at the UN World Summit on the Information Society （WSIS）, focusing specifically on one of its multi-stakeholder working groups, the Working Group on Internet Governance （WGIG）. This working group provided NGOs with some outstanding possibilities for participation to enable them to contribute to the formulation of the WSIS policy outcomes. Yet, the wide participation of NGOs had ambiguous effects for their internal legitimacy. The author will argue that these legitimacy problems in turn challenged the input-legitimacy of the governance process, particularly because they reduced the variety of issues that NGOs brought into the governance process. The most deeply included NGO actors were inclined to adapt their demands to the necessities of the governance process. The empirical findings from the WSIS thus suggest that the democratizing reforms international organizations currently undertake reduce the legitimizing power that NGOs are often assigned with.
