Combining normative analysis and theory-driven empirical research in a comparative framework, this volume clarifies and explains the connections between regional international governance, legitimacy and democracy. It focuses on the quality of democracy and the legitimacy of policy making in multilevel regional systems. The volume offers a much-needed clarification of confusing concepts such as legitimacy, democracy and 'civil society' in non-national political systems. It critically assesses the quality of democracy and legitimacy within different Regional International Organizations (RIOs); it examines how networks of non-state actors become a kind of transnational civil society and assesses their potential for solving legitimacy deficits; and it investigates the impact of democratic conditionality in different RIOs. The contributors deepen our understanding of a relatively new non-state actor on the international scene - the regional international organization - and investigate the potential contribution of transnational non-state actors to the quality of governance at the regional level.

Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann, Anna van der Vleuten

Series Editor's Preface; Part 1 Introduction; Chapter 1 Legitimacy, Democracy and RIOs: Where is the Gap?, Anna van der Vleuten, Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann; Part 2 Defining and Assessing Legitimacy and Democracy in RIOs; Chapter 2 RIOs, Legitimacy and Democracy. A Conceptual Clarification, Berry Tholen; Chapter 3 Discussing Regional Democracy, Juliana Erthal; Chapter 4 The Question of Input, Control and Output Legitimacy in Economic RIOs, Bob Reinalda; Part 3 RIOs, Regional Parliaments and Subnational State Actors; Chapter 5 Regional Parliaments in Europe and Latin America: Between Empowerment and Irrelevance, Andrés Malamud, Luís de Sousa; Chapter 6 Subnational State Actors and their Roles in Regional Governance, Marcelo A. Medeiros; Part 4 RIOs, Legitimacy and Non-State Actors; Chapter 7 Is There Any Room for Input and Control Legitimacy by Civil Society in Mercosur?, Michelle Ratton Sanchez; Chapter 8 The Contribution of Non-state Actors to the Legitimacy of the Caricom, Gerda van Roozendaal; Part 5 RIOs and the Member States: Legitimacy and Democracy; Chapter 9 Contrasting Cases: Explaining Interventions by SADC and ASEAN, Anna van der Vleuten; Chapter 10 Political Conditionality and Democratic Clauses in the EU and Mercosur, Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann; Part 6 Conclusion; Chapter 11 Legitimacy and Democracy in Regional Integration Organizations: Closing or Widening the Gap?, Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann, Anna van der Vleuten;