Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research
Schifferstraße 44
47059 Duisburg
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)203 379-5230
Fax: +49 (0)203 379-5276
E-Mail: terry.macdonald@unimelb.edu.au
Vita
Since 01/2022 | University of Melboune Associate Professor in International Relations |
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Since 07/2012 | University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer in International Relations |
01/2012 - 06/2012 | Monash University School of Political and Social Inquiry Senior Lecturer in Global Politics |
2007 - 2011 | Monash University School of Political and Social Inquiry Lecturer in Global Politics |
07/2006 - 12/2006 | Australian National University Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) Research Fellow |
2004 - 2007 | Oxford University Merton College Junior Research Fellow & Lecturer in International Relations |
2003 - 2004 | Oxford University Worcester College Lecturer in International Relations |
1999 - 2000 | University of Melbourne Tutor in Politics |
Research Project at the Centre
Legitimation and de-legitimation in processes of global institutional change
This project aims to understand the role of political practices of (de)legitimation in driving change as well as stability in the governing institutions of international order. It draws on insights from new pragmatic approaches to the normative theory of legitimacy, to develop a stronger sociological model of the relational dynamics that operate within (de)legitimation practices, and the ways these dynamics contribute to wider processes of international political ordering. At the centre of this model is a new theoretical account of the politicalnormativity of legitimacy claims and standards. This is grounded in a pragmatic understanding of legitimacy as a remedial political practice – directed towards the modern political problem of sustaining freely cooperative governance under the dual constraints of material interdependence and normative pluralism.
Through developing this theoretical account the project aims to advance understanding of global (de)legitimation in three key ways. First, it can help account better for variation in the content of legitimacy sources, standards and activities across different institutional contexts in international order – showing how they are contingent on ‘primitive’ normative settlements concerning diagnoses of political problem situations and communities. Second, it can help capture variation in the quality of legitimacy produced across different institutional contexts – showing how legitimacy can vary not only in strength, but also in depth and maturity with respect to the functional levels of legitimacy practice at which it is achieved. Third, it can help explain the dynamics of change in legitimacy quality – showing how processes of (de)legitimization and the emergence of legitimacy crises can be produced by factors endogenous to legitimacy practice.
Selected Publications
Macdonald T (2023) ‘Political justice in a complex global order: rethinking pluralist legitimacy’, International Affairs 99(1):61-79. |
Macdonald, T (2023) ‘Reviving democracy: Creating pathways out of legitimacy crises’, European Journal of Political Theory 22(1): 181-191. |
Macdonald, T (2022) ‘Theorizing the political rights of refugees: New normative perspectives’, Journal of Refugee Studies 35(2): 1060-1065. |
Macdonald, T and K Macdonald (2022) ‘NGOs as Agents of Global Justice: Cosmopolitan Activism for Political Realists’, Ethics & International Affairs 36(3): 305-320. |
Lenard, P and T Macdonald (2021) ‘Democracy versus security as standards of political legitimacy: The case of national policy on irregular migrant arrivals’, Perspectives on Politics 19(2): 371-387. |
Macdonald, T and K Macdonald (2020) ‘Towards a ‘pluralist’ world order: Creative agency and legitimacy in global institutions’, European Journal of International Relations 26(2): 518-544. |
Macdonald, T and K Macdonald (2020) ‘Towards a ‘pluralist’ world order: Creative agency and legitimacy in global institutions’, European Journal of International Relations 26(2): 518-544. |