Globalization has challenged taken-for-granted relationships of rulein local, regional, national, and international settings. Thisunsettling of legitimacy raises questions. Under what conditions doindividuals and communities accept globalized decision making aslegitimate? And what political practices do individuals andcollectivities under globalization use to exercise autonomy?


To answer these questions, the contributors to UnsettledLegitimacy explore the disruptions and reconfigurations ofpolitical authority that accompany globalization. Arguing that welive in an era in which political legitimacy at multiple scales ofauthority is under strain, they show that globalization has alsocreated demands for regulation, security, and the protection of rightsand expressions of individual and collective autonomy within and acrossmultiple political and geographic spaces. Instead of offeringsimplistic arguments for or against global governance, enhanceddemocracy, or economic integration, the contributors provide asophisticated examination of the complexities of legitimacy andautonomy in a globalizing world.