The Legitimacy Of International NGO - Oxfam Hong Kong Case Study: Cooperation For Recognition

This paper is trying to figure out one question: where the INGOs’ authoritycomes from and why the INGOs can participate in the process of global governance,which is the legitimacy issue. This paper makes effort to construct a conceptual frameto analyze the legitimacy of INGOs. Habermas constructed the conceptual relationbetween legitimacy and recognition. On the basis of the recognition theory of AxelHonnth, Charles Taylor and Paul Ricoeur, recognition can be defined by identity andaccountability.Based on the conceptual frame, OXFAM (Hong Kong) is researched. Accordingto the case study, we can come to two conclusions: INGOs should cooperate withother actors in order to obtain the recognition; the accountability mechanism shouldbe constructed by the governments.