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Legitimacy Chains: Legitimation of Compliance with International Courts Across Social Fields
Author(s) -
Conti Joseph A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/lasr.12181
Subject(s) - legitimacy , legitimation , law and economics , context (archaeology) , compliance (psychology) , articulation (sociology) , political science , politics , sociology , law , globalization , social psychology , psychology , paleontology , biology
Political and legal globalization brings into question how to best conceptualize legitimacy and authority in the context of a plurality of potential audiences with distinct standards for evaluating legitimacy. This article proposes legitimacy chains , or the articulation of justifications linked through competitive processes of social evaluation across distinct social fields, as a concept for theorizing supranational authority. The concept is developed through an analysis of World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes over zeroing , a method for calculating import dumping. The article focuses on how the legitimacy work of various interlocutors enabled compliance despite contested legal validity claims, ultimately enhancing the authority of the WTO as final arbiter of legitimate trade practices.