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Audience Beliefs and International Organization Legitimacy

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  • Chapman, Terrence L.

Abstract

Recent work suggests that multilateral security institutions, such as the UN Security Council, can influence foreign policy through public opinion. According to this view, authorization can increase public support for foreign policy, freeing domestic constraints. Governments that feel constrained by public opinion may thus alter their foreign policies to garner external authorization. These claims challenge traditional realist views about the role of international organizations in security affairs, which tend to focus on direct enforcement mechanisms and neglect indirect channels of influence. To examine these claims, this article investigates the first link in this causal chain—the effect of institutional statements on public opinion. Strategic information arguments, as opposed to arguments about the symbolic legitimacy of specific organizations or the procedural importance of consultation, posit that the effect of institutional statements on public opinion is conditional on public perceptions of member states' interests. This article tests this conditional relationship in the context of changes in presidential approval surrounding military disputes, using a measure of preference distance between the United States and veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council. Findings indicate that short-term changes in presidential approval surrounding the onset of military disputes in the United States between 1946 and 2001 have been significantly larger when accompanied by a positive resolution for a Security Council that is more distant in terms of foreign policy preferences. The article also discusses polling data during the 1990s and 2000s that support the strategic information perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Chapman, Terrence L., 2009. "Audience Beliefs and International Organization Legitimacy," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(4), pages 733-764, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:63:y:2009:i:04:p:733-764_99
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernd Schlipphak, 2013. "Action and attitudes matter: International public opinion towards the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(4), pages 590-618, December.
    2. Thilo Bodenstein & Achim Kemmerling, 2017. "The European Union as a Collective Actor: Aid and Trade in African Public Opinion," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 35(4), pages 567-586, July.
    3. Thomas Bernauer & Steffen Mohrenberg & Vally Koubi, 2020. "Do citizens evaluate international cooperation based on information about procedural and outcome quality?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 505-529, April.
    4. Greg Chih-Hsin Sheen & Hans H. Tung & Chien-Huei Wu & Wen-Chin Wu, 2023. "WHO approves? Relative trust, the WHO, and China’s COVID-19 vaccines," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 499-521, July.
    5. Brian Greenhill, 2020. "How can international organizations shape public opinion? analysis of a pair of survey-based experiments," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, January.
    6. Dreher, Axel & Sturm, Jan-Egbert & Vreeland, James Raymond, 2009. "Global horse trading: IMF loans for votes in the United Nations Security Council," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 742-757, October.
    7. Nadav G. Shelef & Yael Zeira, 2017. "Recognition Matters!," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(3), pages 537-563, March.
    8. von Haldenwang, Christian, 2016. "Measuring legitimacy: new trends, old shortcomings?," IDOS Discussion Papers 18/2016, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    9. Geoffrey PR Wallace, 2019. "Supplying protection: The United Nations and public support for humanitarian intervention," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(3), pages 248-269, May.
    10. 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.

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