Legitimacy issues in international law have traditionally related to State consent and legality. This State‐centric paradigm, largely built upon legal formalism, fails to fully capture the various forms of participation of non‐State actors (NSAs) in international water law and their impacts. This is especially true in the context of water governance which, as part of global governance, witnessed an increased delegation of decision‐making authority to global institutions and a growing distance between those exercising authority and the public. This article argues that the communicative approach, embedded within international law, can better account for the role of NSAs in the development of norms in international water law, as these legal norms are formed and developed through communication among actors. Public participation, the main avenue through which NSAs participate in international water law, is essentially a communicative process. Therefore, the essential elements of the communicative approach, including inclusiveness, access to information, interaction and continuation, play not only a constitutive but also a functional role in public participation. Together, they combine to form an analytical framework which can be applied to the analysis of the participation of NSAs in international water law.

中文翻译：

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当代国际水法中不断发展的规范性：以沟通方式应对非国家行为者日益重要的作用

传统上，国际法中的合法性问题与国家同意和合法性有关。这种以国家为中心的范式主要建立在法律形式主义的基础上，未能充分体现出非国家行为者（NSA）参与国际水法的各种形式及其影响。在水治理的背景下尤其如此，作为全球治理的一部分，水权治理的决策权向全球机构的授权越来越大，而行使权力的机构与公众之间的距离也越来越大。本文认为，嵌入在国际法中的交流方法可以更好地说明国家安全局在国际水法规范发展中的作用，因为这些法律规范是通过行为者之间的交流而形成和发展的。公众参与，国家安全局参与国际水法的主要途径实质上是沟通过程。因此，交流方法的基本要素，包括包容性，信息获取，互动和延续，不仅在公众参与中发挥了构成性作用，而且在功能上发挥了作用。它们共同构成一个分析框架，可用于分析NSA在国际水法中的参与。