The politics of legitimacy is central to international relations. When
states perceive an international organization as legitimate, they defer
to it, associate themselves with it, and invoke its symbols. Examining
the United Nations Security Council, Ian Hurd demonstrates how
legitimacy is created, used, and contested in international relations.
The Council's authority depends on its legitimacy, and therefore its
legitimation and delegitimation are of the highest importance to states.
Through an examination of the politics of the Security Council,
including the Iraq invasion and the negotiating history of the United
Nations Charter, Hurd shows that when states use the Council's
legitimacy for their own purposes, they reaffirm its stature and find
themselves contributing to its authority. Case studies of the Libyan
sanctions, peacekeeping efforts, and the symbolic politics of the
Council demonstrate how the legitimacy of the Council shapes world
politics and how legitimated authority can be transferred from states to
international organizations. With authority shared between states and
other institutions, the interstate system is not a realm of anarchy.
Sovereignty is distributed among institutions that have power because
they are perceived as legitimate.
This book's innovative approach to international organizations and
international relations theory lends new insight into interactions
between sovereign states and the United Nations, and between legitimacy
and the exercise of power in international relations.
