Abstract
This chapter investigates the concept of multistakeholderism by drawing on contributions from global and transnational governance studies, focusing on the theoretical relationship between multistakeholderism and legitimacy. The rapid spread of multistakeholderism among governance studies and practices relies on its potential to establish legitimate authority at the global level, in which inclusive deliberative processes replace the legitimacy derived from electoral mechanisms. However, the concept of multistakeholderism reveals a structural weakness in dealing with the dimension of power, leading to governance practices that undermine less well-resourced actors. In reviewing the existing literature on the categories of input, throughput, and output legitimacy, this chapter identifies a set of legitimacy standards that a multistakeholder initiative needs to satisfy to fulfill the promises of multistakeholderism and avoid being considered merely a rhetorical exercise masking practices of domination.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abbott, K. (2012). The Transnational Regime Complex for Climate Change, Environment and Planning. Government and Policy, 30, 571–590.
Agné, H. (2018). Legitimacy in Global Governance Research. How Normative or Sociological Should It Be? In J. Tallberg, K. Bäckstrand, & J. A. Scholte (Eds.), Legitimacy in Global Governance: Sources, Processes, and Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bächtiger, A., Dryzek, J. S., Mansbridge, J., & Warren, M. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bäckstrand, K. (2006a). Multi-stakeholder Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Rethinking Legitimacy, Accountability and Effectiveness. European Environment, 16(5), 290–306.
Bäckstrand, K. (2006b). Democratizing Global Environmental Governance? Stakeholder Democracy After the World Summit on Sustainable Development. European Journal of International Relations, 12(4), 467–498.
Bäckstrand, K., Khan, J., Kronsell, A., & Lövbrand, E. (2010). Environmental Politics and Deliberative Democracy: Examining the Promise of New Modes of Governance. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Barnett, M., & Duvall, R. (2005). Power and Global Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barrett, S. (2007). Why Cooperate? The Incentive to Supply Global Public Goods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Beisheim, M., & Dingwerth, K. (2008, June). Procedural Legitimacy and Private Transnational Governance: Are the Good Ones Doing Better? (Report). SFB Research Center, Freie Universität Berlin, DE. https://www.sfb-governance.de/en/publikationen/sfb-700-working_papers/wp14/SFB-Governance-Working-Paper-14.pdf. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Bernstein, S. (2005). Legitimacy in Global Environmental Governance. Journal of International Law and International Relations, 1(1/2), 139–166.
Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2010). Governance Without a State: Can It Work? Regulation & Governance, 4, 113–134.
Boström, M., & Tamm Hallström, K. (2013). Global Multi-stakeholder Standard Setters: How Fragile Are They? Journal of Global Ethics, 9(1), 93–110.
Buchanan, A., & Keohane, R. O. (2006). The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions. Ethics & International Affairs, 20(04), 405–437.
Chambers, S. (1996). Reasonable Democracy: Jürgen Habermas and the Politics of Discourse. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Chambers, S. (2003). Deliberative Democratic Theory. Annual Review of Political Science, 6, 307–326.
Cheyns, E., & Riisgaard, L. (2014). Introduction to the Symposium: The Exercise of Power Through Multistakeholder Initiatives for Sustainable Agriculture and Its Inclusion and exclusion Outcomes. Agriculture and Human Values, 31(3), 409–423.
Cohen, J. (1989). Deliberation and Democratic Legitimacy. In A. P. Hamlin & P. Petitt (Eds.), The Good Polity: Normative Analysis of the State (pp. 18–34). Oxford: Wiley.
Dahl, R. (1957). The Concept of Power. Behavioral Science, 2(3), 201–215.
Dentoni, D., Bitzer, V., & Schouten, G. (2018). Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(2), 333–356.
Dingwerth, K. (2007). The New Transnationalism, Transnational Governance and Democratic Legitimacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dryzek, J. S. (1990). Discursive Democracy: Politics, Policy, and Political Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dryzek, J. S. (2009). Democratization as Deliberative Capacity Building. Comparative Political Studies, 42(11), 1379–1402.
Dryzek, J. S. (2011). Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edmunds, D., & Wollenberg, E. (2001). A Strategic Approach to Multistakeholder Negotiations. Development and Change, 32, 231–253.
Elster, J. (1998). Introduction. In Jon Elster (Ed.), Deliberative Democracy (pp. 1–18). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Faysse, N. (2006). Troubles on the Way: An Analysis of the Challenges Faced by Multi-stakeholder Platforms. Natural Resources Forum, 30, 219–229.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish. New York: Vintage.
Fortin, E. (2013). Transnational Multi-stakeholder Sustainability Standards and Biofuels: Understanding Standards Processes. Journal of Peasant Studies, 40, 563–587.
Franklin, M. I. (2013). Digital Dilemmas: Power, Resistance, and the Internet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fransen, L. W., & Kolk, A. (2007). Global Rule-Setting for Business: A Critical Analysis of Multi-stakeholder Standards. Organization, 14(5), 667–684.
Goldsmith, S., & Eggers, W. D. (2004). Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.
Grewal, D. S. (2008). Network Power: The Social Dynamics of Globalization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Gutmann, A., & Thompson, D. F. (2002). Deliberative Democracy Beyond Process. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 10(2), 153–174.
Habermas, J. (1999). Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Hajer, M. A. (1993). Discourse Coalitions and the Institutionalisation of Practise. In F. Fischer & J. Forester (Eds.), The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning (pp. 43–76). Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Hajer, M. A., & Wagenaar, H. (2003). Deliberative Policy Analysis, Understanding Governance in the Network Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hale, T. N. (2008). Transparency, Accountability and Global Governance. Global Governance, 14, 73–94.
Hemmati, M. (2002). Multi-stakeholder Processes for Governance and Sustainability: Beyond Deadlock and Conflict. London: Earthscan.
Héritier, A., & Rhodes, M. (Eds.). (2011). New Modes of Governance in EU, Governing in the Shadow of Hierarchy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hofmann, J. (2016). Multi-stakeholderism in Internet Governance: Putting a Fiction into Practice. Journal of Cyber Policy, 1(1), 29–49.
Howarth, D. (2010). Power, Discourse, and Policy: Articulating a Hegemony Approach to Critical Policy Studies. Critical Policy Studies, 3(3–4), 309–335.
Hurd, I. (1999). Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics. International Organization, 53(2), 379–408.
Koenig-Archibugi, M., & Zürn, M. (2006). New Modes of Governance in the Global System. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kronsel, A., & Backstrand, K. (2010). Rationalities and Forms of Governance: A Framework for Analyzing the Legitimacy of New Modes of Governance. In K. Bäckstrand et al. (Eds.), Environmental Politics and Deliberative Democracy, Examining the Promise of New Modes of Governance (pp. 28–46). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. London: Verso.
Leeper, T., & Slothuus, R. (2018). Deliberation and Framing. In A. Bächtiger, J. S. Dryzek, & J. Mansbridge (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198747369.013.37.
Macdonald, T. (2008). Global Stakeholder Democracy, Power and Representation Beyond Liberal States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Majone, G. (1998). Europe’s Democratic Deficit. European Law Journal, 4(1), 5–28.
Malcolm, J. (2008). Multi-stakeholder Governance and the Internet Governance Forum. Perth: Terminus Press.
Martens, J. (2007). Multistakeholder Partnerships. Future Models of Multilateralism? Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Occasional Paper No. 29). https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/04244.pdf. Accessed 17 October 2019.
Mena, S., & Palazzo, G. (2012). Input and Output Legitimacy of Multi-stakeholder Initiatives. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22, 527–556.
Moog, S., Spicer, A., & Böhm, S. (2014). The Politics of Multi-stakeholder Initiatives: The Crisis of the Forest Stewardship Council. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-2033-3.
Mueller, L. M. (2010). Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Mueller, L. M., & Wagner, B. (2014). Finding a Formula for Brazil: Representation and Legitimacy in Internet Governance. Internet Policy Observatory. https://global.asc.upenn.edu/app/uploads/2014/09/Finding-a-Formula-for-Brazil-Representation-and-Legitimacy-in-Internet-Governance.pdf. Accessed 12 March 2020.
Nanz, P., & Steffel, J. (2004). Global Governance, Participation and the Public Sphere. Government and Opposition, 39(2), 314–335.
Radu, R. (2019). Negotiating Internet Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Raymond, M., & DeNardis, L. (2015). Multistakeholderism: Anatomy of an Inchoate Global Institution. International Theory. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1752971915000081.
Reinicke, W. H. (2000). The Other World Wide Web: Global Public Policy Networks. Foreign Policy, 117, 44–57.
Risse, T. (2006). Transnational Governance and Legitimacy. In A. Benz & Y. Papadopoulos (Eds.), Governance and Democracy Comparing National, European and International Experiences (pp. 179–199). New York: Routledge.
Risse, T. (2011). Governance Without a State? New York: Columbia University Press.
Rosenau, J., & Czempiel, E. O. (1992). Governance Without Government: Order and Change in World Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Scharpf, F. W. (1999). Governing in Europe: Effective and Democratic? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Scharpf, F. W. (2006). Problem Solving Effectiveness and Democratic Accountability in the EU. Political Science Series 107. Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna. http://aei.pitt.edu/6097/1/pw_107.pdf. Accessed 17 November 2019.
Schmidt, V. (2008). Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas and Discourse. Annual Review of Political Sciences, 11, 303–326.
Schmidt, V. (2010). Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Output, Input and Throughput (KFG Working Paper Series No. 21).
Schmidt, V., & Wood, M. (2019). Conceptualizing Throughput Legitimacy: Procedural Mechanisms of Accountability, Transparency, Inclusiveness and Openness in EU Governance. Public Administration. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12615.
Schneiker, A., & Joachim, J. (2018). Revisiting Global Governance in Multistakeholder Initiatives: Club Governance Based on Ideational Prealignments. Global Society, 32(1), 2–22.
Scholte, J. A., & Tallberg, J. (2018). Theorizing the Institutional Sources of Global Governance Legitimacy. In J. Tallberg, K. Bäckstrand, & J. A. Scholte (Eds.), Legitimacy in Global Governance: Sources, Processes, and Consequences (pp. 56–74). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schouten, G., Leroy, P., & Glasbergen, P. (2012). On the Deliberative Capacity of Private Multi-stakeholder Governance: The Roundtables on Responsible Soy and Sustainable Palm Oil. Ecological Economics, 83, 42–50.
Suchman, M. (1995). Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches. The Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610.
Seabrooke, L., & Tsingou, E. (2009). Revolving Doors and Linked Ecologies in the World Economy (CSGR Working Paper 260/09). University of Warwick, UK. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1849/1/WRAP_Seabrooke_26009.pdf. Accessed 17 October 2019.
Steenbergen, M. R., Bachtiger, A., Sporndli, M., & Steiner, J. (2003). Measuring Political De-liberation: A Discourse Quality Index. Comparative European Politics, 1, 21–48.
Steets, J. (2004). Developing a Framework Concept and Research Priorities for Partnership Accountability. Report for Global Public Policy Institute (Research Paper Series No. 1).
Take, I. (2012). Regulating the Internet Infrastructure: A Comparative Appraisal of the Legitimacy of ICANN, ITU, and the WSIS. Regulation and Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2012.01151.x.
Tallberg, J., Bäckstrand, K., & Scholte, J. A. (2018). Legitimacy in Global Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tamm Hallström, K., & Boström, M. (2010). Transnational Multi-stakeholder Standardization: Organizing Fragile Non-state Authority. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
Tsingou, E. (2015). Club Governance and the Making of Global Financial Rules. Review of International Political Economy, 22(2), 225–256.
Weiss, T. G. (2013). Global Governance Why What Whither. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Westergren, M. (2016). The Political Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions. Malmö: Stockholm University Press.
Witte, J., Reinicke, W. H., & Benner, T. (2000). Beyond Multila-teralism: Global Public Policy Networks. Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, 2, 176–188.
Young, I. M. (2001). Activist Challenges to Deliberative Democracy. Political Theory, 29(5), 670–690.
Zeyen, A., Beckmann, M., & Wolters, S. (2016). Actor and Institutional Dynamics in the Development of Multistakeholder Initiatives. Journal of Business Ethics, 135(2), 341–360.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Palladino, N., Santaniello, M. (2021). Foundations, Pitfalls, and Assessment of Multistakeholder Governance. In: Legitimacy, Power, and Inequalities in the Multistakeholder Internet Governance. Information Technology and Global Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56131-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56131-4_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-56130-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-56131-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)