Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prelude : why a quest for legitimacy? -- The irrelevance of law and non-law -- Legitimacy : a matter of degree -- Determinacy -- Determinacy and the Sophist rule-idiot rule paradox -- Redefining determinacy -- Symbolic validation, ritual, and pedigree -- True cues and symbolic validation -- Validation and coherence -- Coherence and legitimacy -- Adherence : legitimacy and normative hierarchy -- Community and legitimacy -- Postlude : why not justice?

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Although there is no international government, and no global police agency enforces the rules, nations obey international law. In this provocative study, Franck employs a broad range of historical, legal, sociological, anthropological, political, and philosophical modes of analysis to unravel the mystery of what makes states and people perceive rules as legitimate. Demonstrating that virtually all nations obey most rules nearly all of the time, Franck reveals that the more legitimate laws and institutions appear to be, the greater is their capacity for compliance. Distilling those factors which increase the perception of legitimacy, he shows how a community of rules can be fashioned from a system of sovereign states without creating a global leviathan.