Contestation-legitimation processes in global climate governance: international organizations and the guiding norm of climate change action

This thesis analyses processes of contestation and legitimation of international organizations (IOs) in global climate governance. Here, the thesis investigates two cases: the environmental IO, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the energy IO, the International Energy Agency (IEA). Against the logic of contestation being a destructive rupture that is followed by de-legitimation, these cases show that contestation can indeed be followed by legitimation. Why? Contestation and legitimation are analysed and conceptualized as holistic processes. By deconstructing the practices in the processes, this thesis makes a novel contribution by unveiling the norm of climate change action that guides these processes and hence, explains why contestation followed legitimation. The norm of climate change action is recognized as an appropriate standard of behaviour that the community and its institutions need to embody in their actions.