1. Rethinking Trust and Legitimacy for INGOs
Center for War Studies
Rethinking Trust and Legitimacy for INGOs
Vincent Charles Keating Erla Thrandardottir
13 June 2018

2. Overview
Trust and legitimacy are poorly handled together in the current academic literature
Conflated or used interchangeably
Casually related with little theoretical consideration
They have particular attributes that are simultaneously similar to each other in their effect, yet independent
Central research question
In what ways are legitimacy and trustworthiness for INGOs similar, different, and related?

3. Problem 1: Interchangability
Used in the same context; little consideration of potential difference
NGOs are facing a paradoxical crisis of trust. On the one hand, their external credibility has never been stronger. According to the 2014 Edelman trust Barometer, NGOs are revered globally as the most trusted institution, while faith in governments and corporations has plummeted. On the other hand, more observers are questioning the presumptive legitimacy accorded to NGOs, which claim to hold states and other actors accountable in global governance while their own accountability remains elusive. (DeMars 2015, 3)
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4. Problem 2: Trust Leads to Legitimacy
Several scholars arguing trust is a central element of legitimacy
Goddard and Assad (2005): NGOs must build trust to manage their legitimacy
Logister (2007): High levels of trust have led to questions about their legitimacy
Avant (2010): Trust is necessary to manage legitimacy problems
Vestergaard (2014): distrust puts immense pressure on legitimacy
In every case, there is a direct correlation made between trust and subsequent legitimacy
We argue that this connection is suspect
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5. What is Legitimacy? Clark (2007): Legitimacy does two things
Creates and defines who are relevant actors (rightful actorness)
Permits access, power, relevance
Creates and defines what actions are acceptable (rightful conduct)
Do what degree will an actor obey or resist an institution or rule?
Two independent effects – not necessarily tied together
Legitimacy expresses both ”a rudimentary social agreement about who is entitled to participate … and appropriate forms of conduct” (Clark 2007, 2)
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6. What is Trust?
The subjective belief or expectation that a particular agreement or nom will be followed or upheld by another actor
Can include
Calculative elements (rational trust)
Non-calculative elements (social and psychological trust)
Affects interactions with other actors
Cooperation/non-cooperation
Degree of hedging
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7. Trust and Legitimacy at the Extremes
At extreme values, trust and legitimacy lead to the same consequences
No legitimacy: declining rightful actorness increases the necessity of using bribery and coercion as political tools
No trust: increasing hedging activities and potential controls, eventually complete lack of cooperation
In both cases, INGOs will be unable to function properly
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8. Trust and Legitimacy at Non-Extreme Levels
Having problems with trustworthiness or legitimacy does not automatically lead to problems with the other
INGO with problems of trustworthiness over the successful completion of its mandate is nonetheless legitimate because of the importance of civil association
INGO with perfect trustworthiness over the successful completion of its mandate is nonetheless facing problems of legitimacy because of its global representativeness
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9. The Need to Consider Specific Trust
The central problem with the literature is that it speaks with respect to generalized trust
X trusts Y at some level z
A better way is to consider models of specific trust
X trusts Y to do Z at some level æ
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10. Example of Specific Trust
Does an American liberal trust the NRA?
In a survey situation, probably not
But what is the domain of trust?
To fulfil their political wishes – probably not
To represent their members – probably
To act within the established rules of liberal democracy – probably
To ask simply ‘do you trust the NRA’ is a meaningless question unless the domain of trust is added
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11. Reuniting (Specific) Trust and Legitimacy
Trustworthiness affects legitimacy only if the domain of trust is the same as the domain of legitimacy
This is important, because increases in trustworthiness in other domains will not affect the legitimacy of the organization
INGOs, transparency measures, and the developing world
Transparency measures might increase trust in the certain domains, but it will not increase NGO legitimacy if the central domains of legitimacy have to do with representativeness
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12. Center for War Studies
12 June 2018