Having obtained a PhD from the University of Aberystwyth, Silviya Lechner joined the Department of War Studies at King's as an Assistant Professor in 2007. Currently she is a senior visiting fellow, working on projects that explore the problem of anarchy, as well as the connection between practice theory and the normative structure of the international realm. Although formally educated in political theory and international relations, her research engages broader questions in philosophy and social theory.

Research Interests

• International Relations Theory
• Social Theory and Philosophy of Social Science 
• Political Philosophy
• Ethics of Technology and Bioethics

Current Research projects at SCRIPTS

Beyond Legitimacy: Institutional Responsibility in Global Governance

A growing body of research queries not just the nature of global governance institutions such as the World Bank, World Trade Organisation, the UN, the ICC, but their legitimacy. Some philosophers define legitimacy in terms of a moral obligation to obey the law, others speak of de facto legitimacy or political legitimacy (democratic participation). Yet another view of legitimacy is that it signals the approval of an authority. But who are the subjects who grant approval (‘legitimation’)? In social contract theory, they are ‘the people’, and the authority concerned is the civil state. On this model, authority flows ‘from above’ and gets legitimised ‘from below’. However, this classical state-centric model cannot be applied directly to the global level because no global state or demos exits. To correct for this, this project articulates a novel conceptual model in order to assess the normative adequacy of global governance institutions.

In this project I propose a normative theory of global institutional responsibility that extends beyond the question of institutional legitimacy. It addresses the following set of central research questions: 1) What is the conceptual relation between authority, legitimacy, and institutional responsibility? 2) Does a theory of institutional responsibility provide a robust normative assessment of current global institutions? In what ways, if any, does it fare better than a theory of legitimacy? 3) What is the difference between institutions of law and security and economic institutions that operate in global governance? Under what conditions can such legal and security institutions be seen as responsible agencies that create crucial opportunities, or remove threats, affecting their members and external stakeholders? 4) Can international organizations and states be integrated within a common analytical framework of institutional responsibility or do they demand distinct frameworks and normative justifications? In response to these questions, my central thesis is that it is necessary to move beyond, without negating, the concept of legitimacy, and to embrace the concept of responsibility in order to properly evaluate the normative adequacy of global governance institutions in the areas of law and security.

See the publication list of Silviya Lechner at King's College London here.