This work seeks to specify the international law of collective non-recognition of governments. It subjects the recognition controversies of the United Nations era to a systematic examination, informed by theoretical and comparative perspectives on governmental legitimacy.

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

`a work of international legal scholarship' Chimene Keitner, Yale Journal of International Law Vol 25 2000 `impressive work' Thomas D Grant Cambridge Law Journal `Roth does an exceptional job of elucidating the issue. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and practitioners.' Choice `This is an interesting, thought-provoking, and well-written book ... replete with wisdom.' International Law and Trade Perspective

Deals with issues that are timely in the wake of the 1998 Sierra Leone invasion and the 1994 Haiti intervention Examines the 'recognition' practices of individual states from a new angle i.e., when can international actors question the legal capacity of a ruling apparatus to assert rights, confer immunities etc. on behalf of the state Uses an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on legal and political theory and comparative politics as well as international legal doctrine Explores the diverse ways in which governments, including those rejecting liberal democracy, have claimed to embody 'the will of the people' Details the history of the international system's efforts to address the problem of 'illegitimate' governments Explains the complexities of the problems of collective non-recognition of governments and the diversity, in both theory and practice of the world's political systems The author, Brad Roth, is an up and coming figure in International Law

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.

Deals with issues that are timely in the wake of the 1998 Sierra Leone invasion and the 1994 Haiti intervention Examines the 'recognition' practices of individual states from a new angle i.e., when can international actors question the legal capacity of a ruling apparatus to assert rights, confer immunities etc. on behalf of the state Uses an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on legal and political theory and comparative politics as well as international legal doctrine Explores the diverse ways in which governments, including those rejecting liberal democracy, have claimed to embody 'the will of the people' Details the history of the international system's efforts to address the problem of 'illegitimate' governments Explains the complexities of the problems of collective non-recognition of governments and the diversity, in both theory and practice of the world's political systems The author, Brad Roth, is an up and coming figure in International Law