The elite–citizen gap in international organization legitimacy

The report identifies a pervasive 'elite–citizen gap' in confidence toward international organizations, where elites consistently express higher levels of trust than ordinary citizens. Based on survey data from Brazil, Germany, the Philippines, Russia, and the US, the study finds that this gap is most pronounced for sustainable development organizations like the UN and is often underestimated by elites. The authors argue that legitimacy is driven by both organizational performance and democratic procedure, and they recommend that the UN increase awareness of this gap, communicate more effectively on its performance and procedures, and strategically engage with young people to bolster global governance.

• A consistent gap exists between elites and citizens regarding their confidence in international organizations across most studied countries and all elite types. On average, elites have 30% more confidence in these organizations than citizens, with a mean confidence score of 1.8 for elites compared to 1.4 for citizens on a 0-3 scale.
• The legitimacy gap varies by organization type and is most significant for sustainable development organizations. The United Nations exhibits the largest gap (0.6), while the World Trade Organization shows the smallest (0.3).
• Geographic analysis shows the gap is most prominent in Brazil (0.6) and least prominent in the Philippines (-0.1), where citizens are actually slightly more confident than elites, particularly regarding economic organizations.
• Among different elite categories, bureaucratic elites exhibit the highest gap in confidence compared to citizens (0.6), whereas civil society elites show the lowest gap (0.2).
• Elites significantly underestimate the extent of the legitimacy gap. While the actual gap is 0.4, elites perceive the gap to be only 0.1.
• Age and socio-economic status are key drivers of citizen legitimacy beliefs. Younger citizens generally hold more favorable views of international organizations, while higher financial satisfaction and education levels correlate with increased confidence, particularly regarding economic organizations.
• Both the democratic procedures and the actual performance of international organizations influence legitimacy beliefs to a similar degree. Elite and citizen preferences for these two factors largely overlap, except in Russia, where citizens show a stronger preference for democratic procedure.

APA

Dellmuth, L., & Fornborg, D. (2022). The elite–citizen gap in international organization legitimacy. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/elite-citizen-gap-stockholm50backgroundpaper-corrected.pdf

Chicago

Dellmuth, Lisa, and David Fornborg. The elite–citizen gap in international organization legitimacy. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/elite-citizen-gap-stockholm50backgroundpaper-corrected.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dellmuth |first1=Lisa |last2=Fornborg |first2=David |title=The elite–citizen gap in international organization legitimacy |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/elite-citizen-gap-stockholm50backgroundpaper-corrected.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dellmuth2022elitecitizen, author = {Dellmuth, Lisa and Fornborg, David}, title = {{The elite–citizen gap in international organization legitimacy}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/elite-citizen-gap-stockholm50backgroundpaper-corrected.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }