This article provides a novel systematic exploration of ways and extents that institutional characteristics shape legitimacy beliefs toward multistakeholder global governance. Multistakeholderism is often argued to offer institutional advantages over intergovernmental multilateralism in handling global problems. This study examines whether, in practice, perceptions of institutional purpose, procedure, and performance affect legitimacy assessments regarding this form of global governance. The analysis focuses on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), one of the largest and most institutionally developed global multistakeholder arrangements. Evidence comes from a mixed-methods survey of 467 participants in ICANN. We find that this representative sample accords high importance in principle to many institutional features, and also rates the actual institutional operations of ICANN quite highly on various counts. Moreover, many institutional characteristics associate significantly with participants' legitimacy beliefs toward ICANN. However, not all institutional qualities have this significance, and the relevance of individual- and societal-level circumstances indicates that institutional sources do not provide a full explanation of legitimacy. The article contributes refinements to theory of legitimacy in global governance; demonstrates the value of mixed-methods survey work in this field; supplies unique original data and analysis; and identifies implications for the politics of (de)legitimation around multistakeholderism.

中文翻译：

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ICANN 多利益相关方全球治理合法性的制度来源


本文对制度特征塑造多利益相关方全球治理合法性信念的方式和程度进行了新颖的系统探索。人们常常认为，在处理全球问题时，多利益相关方主义比政府间多边主义具有制度优势。本研究探讨在实践中，对制度目的、程序和绩效的看法是否会影响对这种全球治理形式的合法性评估。该分析重点关注互联网名称与数字地址分配机构 (ICANN)，它是最大、制度最完善的全球多利益相关方安排之一。证据来自对 ICANN 467 名参与者进行的混合方法调查。我们发现，这个代表性样本原则上对许多机构特征给予了高度重视，并且在各个方面对 ICANN 的实际机构运作给予了相当高的评价。此外，许多机构特征与参与者对 ICANN 的合法性信念密切相关。然而，并非所有制度品质都具有这种意义，个人和社会层面情况的相关性表明制度来源并不能提供合法性的完整解释。文章对全球治理的合法性理论做出了贡献；展示了该领域混合方法调查工作的价值；提供独特的原始数据和分析；并确定了围绕多利益相关者主义的合法化（去）合法性政治的影响。