Awards

• Winner of Winner 1998-1999 American Society for International Law Certificate of merit.

Overview

When is a de facto authority not entitled to be considered a `government' for the purposes of International Law? International reaction to the 1991-4 Haitian crisis is only the most prominent in a series of events that suggest a norm of governmental illegitimacy is emerging to challenge more traditional notions of state sovereignty. This challenge has dramatic implications for two fundamental legal strictures: that against the use or threat of force against a state's political independence, and that against interference in matters `essentially' within a state's domestic jurisdiction. Yet although human rights advocates have begun to speak of state sovereignty as an `anachronism', with some expansively proclaiming the emergence of an international `right to democratic governance,' international law literature lacks systematic treatment of governmental illegitimacy. This work seeks to specify the international law of collective non-recognition of governments, so as to enable legal evaluation of cases in which competing factions assert governmental authority. It subjects the recognition controversies of the United Nations era to a systematic examination, informed by theoretical and comparative perspectives on governmental legitimacy. The inquiry establishes that the category of `illegitimate government' now occupies a place in international law, with significant consequences for the legality of intervention in certain instances. The principle of popular sovereignty, hitherto vague and ambiguous, has acquired sufficient determinacy to serve, in some circumstances, as a basis for denial of legal recognition to putative governments. This development does not imply, however, the emergence in international law of a meaningful norm of `democratic governance,' nor would such a norm serve the purposes of the scheme of sovereign equality of states embodied in the United Nations Charter.

Full Product Details

Author:   Brad R. Roth (Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, Wayne State University, Detroit)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Clarendon Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.50cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 24.20cm
Weight:   0.817kg
ISBN:  

9780198268529

ISBN 10:   0198268521
Pages:   470
Publication Date:   28 January 1999
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Preface by Oscar Schachter Acknowledgements 1: International Politics, International Law, and the Legitimacy of Domestic Governments A. The Issue: Illegitimate Governments as a Legal Category B. Legal Norms and International Security C. The Paradox of Sovereignty in International Law 2: Legal Legitimacy in Theoretical Perspective A. The Question of Legitimate Authority B. Legal Legitimacy and International Political Morality 3: Popular Sovereignty and Domestic Constitutional Orders A. Vehicles of Legitimation B. The Constitutional Order and Its Limits C. The Primacy of the Legitimating Vision 4. The Rise and Fall of Revolutionary-Democratic Dictatorship A. Theoretical Foundations of Revolutionary Democracy B. Teleological Democracy and Vanguard Dictatorship C. Revolutionary-Democratic Dictatorship and Contemporary International Discourse 5 A. Recognition Doctrine B. Recognition and Intervention in Internal Armed ct C. Legitimacy Contests and Modes of Collective Resolution 6: Ascertaining the Will of 'Peoples': Governmental Illegitimacy and Self-Determination A. From Principle to Right: Self-Determination in the Scheme of Sovereign Equality B. Self-Determination and Popular Will C. Local Deprivations of Self-Determination: Rhodesia, South Africa and Beyond 7: Two Governments, One State: Recognition Contests and the Use of Force A. UN Credentials and Collective Legal Recognition B. Intervention by invitation of the Legitimate Government C. Governmental Illegitimacy and Foreign Intervention: Three Cases D. Recognition Contests, 1950-89 8: Governmental Illegitimacy and Political Participation A. Political Participation in Human Rights Law B. Legitimacy and Quasi-Plebiscitary Elections C. Participation and the Basis of Governmental Authority 9: Haiti and Beyond: Popular Will and De-Legitimation in the 1990s A. Collective Responses to the Breakdown of Electoral Arbitration B. The Broader Context: Sovereignty and Internal Crises in the 1990s C. Governmental Illegitimacy and Collective Practice 10: Conclusion: Sovereignty and Popular Will A. The International Law of Governmental Illegitimacy B. The Dangers of Liberal-Democratic Legitimism C. Conclusion Notes Index

Reviews

This is an interesting, thought-provoking, and well-written book. . . replete with wisdom. --International Law and Trade Perspective

This is an interesting, thought-provoking, and well-written book. . . replete with wisdom. --International Law and Trade Perspective<br>

<br> This is an interesting, thought-provoking, and well-written book. . . replete with wisdom. --International Law and Trade Perspective<p><br>

Author Information

Brad Roth is Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at Wayne State University, Detroit, USA. He previously lectured at the University of California, Berkeley and has been a litigation attorney in New Jersey. Since 1984 he has been a member of the Board of Directors and Advisory Council, America-Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. He is also a member of seven other such professional delegations.

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