1 The Output Legitimacy of International Organizations and the Global Public Interest Jens Steffek Technische Universität Darmstadt steffek@pg.tu-darmstadt.de Abstract In this paper I introduce and discuss output legitimacy as a category of normative analysis of international organizations (IOs). I refute the widespread view that output legitimacy is just a synonym for organizational effectiveness or efficiency, and unrelated to democracy. I argue instead that output legitimacy has an important democratic dimension. The touchstone of ‘democratic output legitimacy’ is the extent to which systems of governance produce results that cater to the public interest. By analogy, the democratic output legitimacy of IOs can be understood in terms of their ability to safeguard a public interest that is transnationally defined. This ability hinges upon i) their capacity to keep powerful (state and non-state) actors in check; and ii) the epistemic quality of their decision-making procedures. Attaining these qualities may require shielding IOs to some extent from the input dimension of the international political process. In the last section of the paper I take issue with the hazards associated with non-majoritarian institutions, in particular the problem of technocratic paternalism. While mechanisms of input legitimation work on the basis of articulated citizen interests, output-oriented mechanisms function with reference to assumed citizen interests. Technocratic paternalism is imminent when policy-making based on assumed citizen interests escapes systematic confrontation with articulated citizen interests. The paper hence pinpoints a challenge to global governance arrangements: how to enable an encompassing debate over the global public interest while keeping pressure of powerful factions in check.