Anything New Since the End of the Cold War? or International Law Goes Domestic: International Electoral Standards and Their Legitimacy

Abstract

Abstract: After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, democratic Zeitgeist swept the globe. International law seemed no longer indifferent to how domestic regimes were formed. Part of this post-1989 development was a considerable increase in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the right to political participation as well as a proliferation of election observation missions by the OSCE/ODIHR. Both developed and implemented international standards for domestic electoral processes with increasing effectiveness. The dynamism inherent in this phenomenon of «international law going domes- tic in electoral matters» raises legitimacy questions insofar as the original state consent –the main source of legitimacy in traditional international law– appears to be an insufficient basis for the broad exercise of the international institutions’authority. Accordingly, this paper proposes a wider approach to examining the phenomenon. Through source, procedure, and result-oriented elements of legitimacy, it assesses and compares the development and implementation of international electoral standards in the regional context of Europe.