IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/intorg/v20y1966i03p367-379_01.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Collective Legitimization as a Political Function of the United Nations

Author

Listed:
  • Claude, Inis L.

Abstract

As the United Nations has developed and as its role in world affairs has been adapted to the necessities and possibilities created and the limitations established by the changing realities of international politics, collective legitimization has emerged as one of its major political functions. By this I mean to suggest that the world organization has come to be regarded, and used, as a dispenser of politically significant approval and disapproval of the claims, policies, and actions of states, including, but going far beyond, their claims to status as independent members of the international system. In this essay I shall undertake to refine and elaborate this rough definition of collective legitimization and to discuss the performance of this role by the United Nations. It is essential in the beginning, however, to provide a foundation by offering some observations about the general problem of political legitimacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Claude, Inis L., 1966. "Collective Legitimization as a Political Function of the United Nations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 367-379, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:20:y:1966:i:03:p:367-379_01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020818300012832/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali Balci, 2022. "Controlling International Institutions: How the US Engineered UNSC Non‐permanent Members in the Early Cold War," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(2), pages 259-270, May.
    2. Stephen, Matthew D., 2015. "‘Can you pass the salt?’ The legitimacy of international institutions and indirect speech," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 21(4), pages 768-792.
    3. Biegoń, Dominika & Gronau, Jennifer & Schmidtke, Henning, 2013. "Magic mirror on the wall, who in the world is legitimate after all? Legitimacy claims of international institutions," TranState Working Papers 169, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    4. Nilsson, Adriana, 2017. "Making norms to tackle global challenges: The role of Intergovernmental Organisations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 171-181.
    5. Henning Schmidtke, 2019. "Elite legitimation and delegitimation of international organizations in the media: Patterns and explanations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 633-659, December.
    6. Jeni Whalan, 2010. "The power of friends," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(5), pages 627-637, September.
    7. Atsushi Tago, 2013. "Why do states formally invoke the right of individual self-defense? Legal-, diplomatic- and aid-politics to motivate states to respect international law," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(2), pages 161-177, April.
    8. Daniel O’Neill, 2009. "Anne Kent. 2007. Beyond compliance: China, international organizations, and global security (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 105-109, March.
    9. Zürn, Michael, 1987. "Gerechte internationale Regime: Bedingungen und Restriktionen der Entstehung nicht-hegemonialer internationaler Regime untersucht am Beispiel der Weltkommunikationsordnung," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, volume 5, number 112658, August.
    10. Karen E. Smith, 2017. "EU Member States at the UN: A Case of Europeanization Arrested?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 628-644, May.
    11. Kenneth W. Abbott & Duncan Snidal, 1998. "Why States Act through Formal International Organizations," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 42(1), pages 3-32, February.
    12. Beth A. Simmons, 2002. "Capacity, Commitment, and Compliance," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(6), pages 829-856, December.
    13. Parizek, Michal & Stephen, Matthew D., 2021. "The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations’ Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997–2015," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 65(1), pages 197-209.
    14. Baturo, Alexander, 2023. "Russia’s Global Anti-Nazism Campaign: Seeking Support in International Organizations," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt7w8504tk, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    15. Terrence L. Chapman, 2007. "International Security Institutions, Domestic Politics, and Institutional Legitimacy," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 51(1), pages 134-166, February.
    16. Jonas Tallberg & Michael Zürn, 2019. "The legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations: introduction and framework," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 581-606, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:20:y:1966:i:03:p:367-379_01. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ino .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.